Woroni Edition Thirteen 2016 by Woroni

Woroni Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Page 26 Page 4

Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus: What Are the Policies and Where Are They? Lorane Gaborit & Kanika Kirpalani

cHRIS WREN

Page 40

WORONI ADOPTS THE WOMBAT

THE FUTURE OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC— ANDREW PODGER’S REPORT AND ANU’S RESPONSE

BRONTE MCHENRy

ANTHONY COTTER

Page 8

Issue 13, Vol. 66

CAMPUS HORRORS: ARCHITECTURAL CRITIQUES OF CAMPUS BUILDINGS

Contents

Editor’s note News 4

Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus: What Are the Policies and Where Are They? Lorane Gaborit and Kanika Kirpalani

Women in Leadership at the ANU Kanika Kirpalani

WOMEN OF INFLUENCE, WOMEN OF ANU LORANE GABORIT

INTERNATIONAL

IDENTITY ETHICS

THE FUTURE OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC—ANDREW PODGER’S REPORT AND ANU’S RESPONSE

emma wiggins

ANTHONY COTTER

why clinton will win

WORONI RADIO

guy exton

LIFE AND STYLE 42

令人心痛的英雄之路 Heartbreaking Road for the Hero

TEN QUESTIONS WITH ANNE GALLAGHER AO

刘珺滔 Juntao Liu

ARETI METUAMATE

AGAINST THE GRAIN: CHINA IN A GLOBALISED WORLD

BULLIES AND NEW BEGINNINGS

BRIDGET DEVERY

MATTHEW MOTTOLA

Mental Health Week Recap

Sarah Edwards

DEVELOPMENT FROM THE ROOTS

NOTES FROM MACEDONIA

ROSIE HESELEV

Student Think Tank launches towards research-driven change MIGUEL GALSIM

ANU HOLDS ITS OWN AT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES

KATE MATTHEWS

THE SUN SHINES THE BRIGHTEST AT HOME

LETTER FROM BRIAN SCHMIDT BRIAN SCHMIDT

WORONI ADOPTS THE WOMBAT BRONTE MCHENRY

Women politicians made to walk the tightrope

INTERNATIONAL LAW: OFTEN SCORNED, RARELY UNDERSTOOD

fashfest

SARI TOLLENAAR

features

Interview with anusa education officer, James connolly

SHOULD AUSTRALIANS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN? LAURA WRIGHT

CAMPUS HORRORS: ARCHITECTURAL CRITIQUES OF CAMPUS BUILDINGS

Just Another Testimonial 11

Intolerance: A Tough Nut to Crack Lewis Pope

Georgia leak

SEX and the secret city pheobe hamra

POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION IS DISCRIMINATION LIAM FITZPATRICK

cHRIS WREN

ENVIROMENT

Science

Blair WILLIAMS

TO BRA OR NOT TO BRA, THAT IS THE QUESTION

MADDIE KIBRIA

LORANE GABORIT

COMMENT

THE POLITICS OF FEAR IZZY WILSON

HER FEAR

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

AMANDA CHEN

WHAT WE WANT, what we’d give up

HALLOWEEN, JACK-O’-LANTERNS AND ZOMBIES, OH MY! CAROLINE HENDY

rob morris

THE BACKPACKER TAX: AN UPDATE KARAN DHAMIJA

Stress Culture

LAURETTA FLACK

The veins of fear

Jade Mckenna

Let me take a selfie – Manifestations of narcissism or innocent status updates?

Golden Medals of Great Controversy

CREATIVE WRITING

LIAM OSAWA

ARTS & REVIEWS

TRUMPED UP TRICKLED DOWN DISASTER?

DENDY FILM REVIEWS

SARA RODRIGO

Briony Roelandts

AUSTRALIAN QUESTION TIME IS Redundant

GONE GIRL ON THE TRAIN ANNABELLE KLIMT & JOSH BEGBIE

Does the extinction of the Geelong Falcon spell disaster for the local ecosystem?

ADRIAN HINDES

I’m Not A CUNT, JOEL

KENY ARCANGELI

RESPECT MY AUTHOR-ITY ALEXANDRA ELGUE

A VOTE in the hand is worth two in the house RHYS DOBSON

Romance Done Right: The German Rom-Com Experience CAROLINE HENDY

THE QUEER SCREEN FILM FEST MARY WATERS

WORONI DROPS BALL ON MEn’s collective reporting

ELUSIVE OF ALL EXPECTATION: AN INTERVIEW WITH KIRKLANDD

Codie bell

WILSON SECURITY ON CAMPUS: AN UPDATE LIZZIE STOROR AND DOM CRADICK

SAFE SPACES? KATHERINE PROUTING

TESS ROONEY

WE’RE NOT WORRIED, WE’RE JUST HAVING FUN HAYDEN FRITZLAFF

MIKE PARR: FOREIGN LOOKING. “It’s art” PHOEBE HAMRA

MITCHELL SCOTT

SPORTS Satire event guide

Acknowledgement of Country

Woroni is published on the land of the Ngunnawal people. ‘Woroni’ translates to ‘mouthpiece’ in the Ngunnawal language.

Contact

Advertising inquiries and submissions can made at: advertising@woroni.com.au Phone: (02) 6125 9574 Shop 15, Lena Karmel Building 26 Barry Drive, Acton 2601 Woroni is printed by Capital Fine Print.

Board of Editors

Editor In Chief - Ria Pflaum Deputy Editor in Chief - Daniel McKay Managing Editor - Liam Osawa News Editor - Miguel Galsim Communications Editor - Finn Pedersen Content Editor - Bronte McHenry Radio Director - Caitlin Magee Creative Editor - Joanne Leong

Staff

Admin Assistant - Gowrie Varma Financial Controller - Brendan Greenwood

Sub-Editors

News - Kanika Kirpalani, Alexander Joske, Lorane Gaborit & Mark Han Managing Assistant - Sam Taylor Marketing - Lorna Zhang Communications Sub-Eds: Photography - Bremer Sharp & Pubudu Dissanayake Instagram - Tony Gu Comment - Nishanth Pathy Features - Vera McCarthy Arts & Reviews - Gabriele Naktinyte & Grace Shalders International - Nahed Elrayes Life & Style - Alexandra Green Science - Jennifer Tinston Environment - Morgan Alexander Sport - Madhuri Kibria Satire - Zoe Saunders Radio Technical Officer Jamie Palamountain Radio Presenter Liaison - Oscar Jolly Radio Media Liaison Brittany Wallis Radio Music/DJ - Brendan Keller-Tuberg Radio Events: Paul Dickson Radio Digital Content: Loretta Lackner Design - Eva Krepsova Social Media - Michael Turvey & Annabelle Nshuti

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Editor’s note

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-in-chief RIA PFLAUM

Dear ANU, This year has been a big one - 64 pages of content a fortnight, 40 radio shows a semester, a complete re-brand of Woroni, an ever-increasing social media presence, a work in progress full website redevelopment and the promise of Woroni TV just around the corner before the. Oh, and I got a goldfish. To my board, I want to say thank you for everything. Thank you for your hard work, your dedication and your willingness to be open to each other’s and my, (sometimes absurd) ideas. It has been a rollercoaster, and one that has tested all of us - blood, sweat, tears and all - but I say with perhaps a clichéd sincerity, that it is a ride we could not have survived without each other. To those who wrote for the first time this year, please do not stop. Please keep writing and sharing your

voice; to those who have let us help in telling their personal stories, you have contributed to a movement for change. There have never been more valuable pieces of the Woroni family than those who contribute. To our regular contributors, you make Woroni what it is, and you’ve helped it grow to something you can hopefully be proud of. We were proud to share in your creativity and enthusiasm, and have learnt so much from you To the Sub-Editorial team and staff – you know I’m crazy in love with all of you. You are the Solange to the Board’s Beyoncé, and the Jane Lane to our Daria. Your jobs are by no means easy, but are what keeps the Woroni arteries pumping, and the Board will forever will be indebted to you for your amazing work over the semester. Keep doing you, and I hope I get the pleasure of working with you all again in the future.

To the incoming Board and the student body: Woroni will never be perfect, but it can keep moving in that direction. It has the potential to be both immensely rewarding and incredibly challenging, but I think that’s one of the best bits. Despite the sometimes tumultuous nature of ANUSM, we’ve built something this year that we’re incredibly proud of, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. Signing off before this gets incredibly sappy, with the warmest of wishes, Ria Pflaum, and the Woroni Board of Editors for Semester 2, 2016.

news

Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus: What Are the Policies and Where Are They? Lorane Gaborit and Kanika Kirpalani

Content warning: Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment and sexual assault are growing issues amongst university students, prompting Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs’ recent survey into the matter. With six on campus residential halls, including undergraduate and postgraduate accommodation, the ANU forms part of the increasing number of sexual assault and harassment cases across Australia. Although the university has procedures for dealing with sexual assault and harassment, its residential halls have a significant amount of discretion with regards to any incidents that may occur within their walls. Woroni contacted various ANU Heads of Hall to comment on their procedures regarding sexual harassment and assault. Interestingly, the ANU owned colleges do not have individual policies on sexual harassment or sexual assault but rather utilise the official ANU procedures. Given that each college maintains significantly different cultures, traditions and administrations, the appropriateness of generic university-wide policies is debatable. ANU affiliated colleges such as Burgmann and Johns have separate policies on the matter. Burgmann has a policy on sexual harassment, but currently no policy on sexual assault. Johns has previously had a meagre policy on sexual harassment and assault, provided to residents in a paragraph of their student handbooks. However, Johns is currently drafting new sexual harassment and assault policy with the aid of several consultants, including the ANU, to make sure the college’s new policy aligns with the university’s. The Head of Johns College, Geoff Johnston, was the only Head of Hall to sit down with Woroni. Johnston said that when his college receives a complaint there is firstly immediate concern for the complainant and secondly there is an assessment of the threat to other residents. Richard Baker, Pro-vice Chancellor (University Experience), echoed this sentiment when telling Woroni, “there are two aspects to

how the University deals with these disclosures; firstly and of paramount importance is ensuring the person’s safety and support; the secondary considerations are, does the person wish for there to be follow up action and can the University assist in that follow up action.” However Baker also stated that this ‘follow up action” can be difficult as it “depends on the nature of the allegation, those involved, whether it is a formal complaint or an anonymous disclosure about an incident.” Baker also indicated that “whether the disclosure is made to the University or to an affiliated residence” was of consideration. That said, regardless of the nature of reports of sexual assault or harassment, ANU policies available on the ANU website claim to treat “all grievances in a sensitive, fair, timely and confidential manner”. Primarily, this involves facilitating procedural fairness, which ensures that all parties involved in a case of sexual assault or harassment are entitled to respond to allegations against them and provide evidence. According to ANU policy, the university and residential halls claimed to try to follow the complainant’s wishes as much as possible. However in serious cases concerning, for example, a serial offender, Johnston indicated that the college would most likely take action to protect its residents from immediate and ongoing risk regardless. Johnston said it was important to achieve justice on both sides; “when you have one of these issues there’s no winners and you’ll tend to find the victim is not as happy as they like and the perpetrator is not as happy as they like and that’s caused by us trying to find a balance between what’s just and fair.” Aside from fairness, the record of many colleges in terms of treating allegations of sexual assault and harassment in a “timely manner” remains blurry. Residents from an unnamed ANU college who experienced sexual harassment earlier this year told Woroni that their college only started taking action after multiple students repeatedly complained of incidences concerning the same person. Moreover, action was only taken after Senior Residents at the college urged the matter to be taken serious-

ly, a process which ended up significantly delaying results. Confidentiality with regards to reports of sexual assault and harassment did seem to be prioritised by colleges. Residents told Woroni that when reporting instances of sexual assault and harassment to Senior Residents or Women’s Officers, they were not required to name themselves or the perpetrator to the college administration. Although Senior Residents and Officers were required to disclose to the college that an incident had occurred when in this situation, they maintained the possibility of protecting the privacy of the individual. However, as a result, the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre and Australian Federal Police were only involved in procedures for dealing with sexual assault and harassment if victims made formal and named reports. In the case of complaints of sexual assault and harassment involving ANU students, residents were given the option to bring reports to the attention of the ANU Dean of Students, Associate Professor Paula Newitt. Concerning Johns College in particular, it was disclosed that procedure meant that, where possible, the names of students accused of sexual harassment or sexual assault would be provided by the college to the university, though the details of the case would not be disclosed. Although this process allows individuals to be “flagged” by the university, it does not necessarily prevent them from attending other colleges. Furthermore, from investigations undertaken by Woroni News, it appeared that overall these procedures were not always followed, and that in most situations a “case by case” approach was taken by residential halls. Although the flexibility of the “case by case” model allows for personalised support and guidance, many students reported being unsure of what to expect from reporting cases of sexual harassment and assault. Many were also unaware of how to go about the process, a situation compounded by the vulnerability of their position. Discussions with ANU Counselling also revealed that the official ANU procedure for dealing

with allegations of sexual assault in residential halls was only available online, and not supplied in hard copies at the ANU Health Centre, ANU Counselling Centre, or in the Residential Halls themselves. As an official stated, “keeping the procedures online is easier in case they change.” Moreover, these official ANU procedures utilise legal jargon that is arguably difficult for the average student to understand, with terms such as “procedural fairness” and “victimisation” being thrown around lengthy and disjointed documents titled “Procedure: Prevention of discrimination, harassment and bullying” (terms somehow encompassing sexual assault), or “Procedure: Student Critical Incident.” Additionally, a student shown these documents by Woroni News commented on the fact that no translations of these policy and procedure documents were available online, leading to concerns that international or exchange students with poor English skills might be disadvantaged in understanding university protocol and the options available to them in the case of sexual assault or harassment. In all conversations conducted by Woroni looking at ANU sexual assault policy and procedure, a single trend was clear; as summarised by a welfare officer from an unnamed residential hall, “The real issue is that this is happening in the first place.” Similarly, for Johnston, what will be most interesting to see from the anticipated results of Triggs’ survey is whether rates of sexual harassment and assault on university campus’ are higher than rates within broader society. Regardless, if anything is certain it is that current ANU procedures and policies are not only failing to fulfil their promises of timeliness, but perhaps more seriously, failing to be effectively communicated to residents. The lack of college-specific policies, widespread distribution of procedures, and clear and transparent language is a concern that must be addressed immediately.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

news

Women in Leadership at the ANU Kanika Kirpalani

The ANU Women in Leadership launch was held at University House on the evening of 11th October. The launch successfully filled the room with female identifying people, in a culmination of canapés, networking, speed dating and mentorship. The event was divided into 3 rotations, allowing students to meet different mentors who were stationed at tables. To kick off the event Deborah May, the keynote speaker, spoke about her experience in the workforce, building a career and a company. May underwent her undergraduate at the ANU. After being a lawyer for a brief period of time, May decided to change her career path. On the ad-

vice of a friend, May contacted IBM and said they should hire her, to which they obliged. After May had her son, she started to feel marginalised in the company. At the time May, like many women in similar positions, thought that perhaps she was doing something wrong to garner that isolation. Now, May knows that that these feelings were to do with inequalities in the system. May took time off with her family before moving to Boston to research what inhibits the growth of women in organisations, under the grant of a Fullbright Scholarship. This led to May stating her own consulting practice, The May Group.

Although May has educated, researched and advocated for equality she says, “we haven’t achieved gender equity in any way, shape or form”. May encouraged all the women in the room not to be discouraged but rather to be innovative. May urged all the attendees to, “get more creative, get strategic and get networked”. The event partnered successful women from a range of backgrounds with undergraduate and post-graduate students. The mentors were able to share their career experiences and provide guidance to students who shared their aspirations.

working and mentorship. Each of the mentors stressed that women are often passed over for less competent male counterparts. Acknowledging the systematic inequalities in most organisations, mentors emphasised that it was important for women to get their voice out there, to make those connections with people, to work hard at staying on the radar of influential people. “It is not an even playing field”, May stated, “but I do have hope that we can create a better future”.

The Women in Leadership launch highlighted the importance of net-

WOMEN OF INFLUENCE, WOMEN OF ANU LORANE GABORIT

Two ANU academics have been announced as winners in The Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards for 2016.

ANU Professor Emily Banks and Associate Professor Susan West were honoured in the Innovation category and Local and Regional category respectively. These awards are described by Westpac as awards that “uncover those extraordinary women whose tireless commitment to creating change would have otherwise remained unrecognised.” In his congratulations to Professor Banks and Dr West, ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt echoed this sentiment, stating that the recognition “highlights their commitment to their research and their ability to inspire those around them.”

Professor Banks, the Head of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, and Dr West, the Artistic Director of the ANU Music Engagement Program, have indeed had a significant impact on both others and their respective industries throughout their careers. Professor Banks has interest and expertise in large scale cohort studies, pharmacoepidemiology, women’s health, Aboriginal Health and healthy ageing, whilst Dr West has over thirty years experience as a performer, educator, composer and arranger and is credited for developing a therapeutic approach to music education in the form of “The Music Outreach Principle”.

Drawing attention to Professor Banks’ and Dr Wests’ work through these awards provides a valuable opportunity to counteract underlying sexism in academia and Australia more generally. As Professor Banks stated in an interview with ANU media, “the exceptional women who are listed demonstrate the powerful force that women are in bringing about positive change.” “Just imagine how much more we could achieve if discrimination against women was eliminated and more women could fulfil their true potential.” A full list of winners can be found on the ‘The 100 Women of Influence Awards for 2016’ website.

News

Mental Health Week Recap Sarah Edwards Mental Health and Wellness Week at the ANU ran between the 10th and the 14th of October this year, and involved the participation of a wide variety of groups and organisations within the University. Some of the events on offer for the week included Speed Friending at ANU Bar (co-organised by the ANU Queer* Department), a petting zoo, free massages and barbeque lunches, and a range of panel discussions on topics concerning mental health issues which particularly affect the student population of the ANU. Organised broadly by both ANUSA and PARSA, the week consisted of a series of events arranged in collaboration with other student groups and targeted at improving wellness and advocacy for mental health issues affecting students.

Some of the groups who were involved in these events include the ANU Queer* Department, Batyr, ANU Counselling, and the ANU Ethnocultural Department. Co-Chair of the ANUSA Mental Health Committee Marcus Dahl said that the aim of the week from the Committee’s perspective was to “bring together people who are interested in mental health from a community perspective,” and to involve them in “sharing thoughts about selfcare and wellness strategies, but also discussing more complicated issues.” Throughout the week, events organised by ANUSA focused primarily on advocacy for mental health-related issues, including panel discussions on the relationship between mental and physical health.

PARSA’s focus was on wellness, and providing activities and events which encourage students to care for their mental health. PARSA’s petting zoo, free massages, and Batyr- run “chill-out zone” were targeted to this goal. The ANUSA Mental Health Committee’s other Co-Chair Aji Sana flagged depression, chronic stress, and anxiety as some of the major mental health risks affecting students at university. Particularly “in such a stressful environment where expectations run so high,” she said that students often struggle to identify their symptoms as indicative of mental health problems. As such, one of the concerns of the Committee in Mental Health and Wellness Week is to engage students with a “broad perspective” on

the ways that mental health-related symptoms can manifest themselves. “It’s important to remember that the average age of an undergraduate at the ANU is right in the peak time for serious mental illness first manifesting themselves, so demographically, it’s already going to be a difficult time,” said Dahl, adding that “university can be a stressful environment.” In this context, he emphasised the importance of “support and advocacy from a community mental health perspective” in minimising the harm caused by mental illness in a university environment. Mental Health and Wellness Week is an annual initiative, and is arranged to coincide with World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October each year.

Student Think Tank launches towards research-driven change Miguel Galsim On the evening of October 13, the ANU Student Think Tank held its official launch gala at the Brian Kenyon Student Space, promising to be an outlet for research-driven policy recommendations and student-led change.

would provide students with handson experience and eventual access to university decision-makers.

ers completely online might detract from the core reasons of why they come to the university.

Later-year research students would also be given the opportunity to mentor younger students in their research.

Speaking at the event, head of the think tank Ben Niles said that the current generation of students “has a strong commitment to personal responsibility.”

Examples for future projects included parking and bike usage on campus, and think tank organiser Sally Muradoğlu ran a discussion in the question of whether lectures should still exist.

Even Richard Baker, Pro Vice-Chancellor (University Experience), was present and contributed. Moving away from the online-versus-physical debate, he felt that good data could be gained by gauging how many alumni remembered what they learned or thought certain content was helpful.

Accordingly, the think tank aims to provide a platform for students to engage in research to build future policy recommendations for “progressive change” at the ANU. Feeling that the best initiatives were those based on such research and data, Niles told the attendees that the think tank

Attendee responses varied, featuring responses from teachers, undergraduates and postgraduates, international students, and practitioners from the humanities and STEM. Many agreed that the solution would depend on the course, and one international student emphasised that making lectur-

At the conclusion of the event, Niles acknowledged that ANUSA and PARSA had assisted the think tank logistically. He extended thanks to Richard Banker and Dr Andrew Smith, as well as Dr Inger Mewburn, ANU’s Director of Research Training.

Ultimately, organisers of the think tank believed that the group would institutionalise policy recommendations from the student body. Having hard data to reinforce student initiatives would make them less likely to be ignored by the Chancelry, and the push for policy changes through a formal group rather than individuals would make long-term projects easier to accomplish. Niles told the crowd that the think tank “is not looking to respond to policy changes, but be the driving force behind them.”

ANU HOLDS ITS OWN AT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES LORANE GABORIT

Joining more than 5000 students from 41 different tertiary institutions in Australia, over 120 ANU students travelled to Perth last month in order to represent ANU at the 2016 Australian University Games. Competing in over 11 different sports, these students faced tough competition but managed to secure two gold medals in the Women’s 100m and 200m courtesy of ANU team captain Steph Pollard, along with another five gold medals and a silver medal from the ANU Boat Club in Rowing, and an unexpected bronze medal in Sailing. A number of students were also selected for the “Green and Gold

Youth Law Centre ACT

If you ticked No or

Unsure against any of

Team”, a reward recognising excellent sportsmanship and dedication. An official ANU sport report stated that “while this may have been a tough year for ANU result wise there is a great culture around the team and a definite sense of building towards strong results in the future,” with many students already looking towards the AUGs to be held next year on the Gold Coast. Sailing competitor Kai Johnson is among these students, describing the AUG’s as “a must for any university student who can hit a ball with a stick or move their legs really fast.” His teammate Harry Pollock agrees, telling Woroni

Take the Legal Health Checkup Today People realise that maintaining their health requires regular checkups. You should also check your ‘legal health’ to ensure that your legal affairs are in order. The following are some of the things you should check. Not all of them are purely legal issues, but they could have legal implications if things are not in order.

Violence

□ Yes

Have you been drinking or taking drugs and driving? Do you have insurance for your car? Have you been in a car accident? Do you have a fine?

□ No

The event is also an opportunity to meet students from within ANU itself, with ANU sport praising the sportsmanship between different subANU teams throughout the week. As sailing competitor Jess Coote put it, the AUGs not only enhanced her passion for sport, but also encouraged her “to be a more active member of the ANU sport community.”

Do you owe someone money, or have outstanding bills? Do you have a debt from your mobile phone, internet provider, or a credit card? Are you trapped in a contract you no longer want be part of?

My finances are in order:

□ Yes

□ Unsure

My housing is in order:

(02) 6173 5410

□ No

□ Unsure

________________________________________________

Employment

Does your employer owe you wages, or are they paying you too little? Have you been fired unfairly? Have you been injured at work? Are you being bullied in the workplace? Is your employment contract unfair? Do you think your employer is making unreasonable demands?

My work is treating me right:

□ Yes

□ No

□ Unsure

Online Issues

Once something is on the internet, it can be hard to take down. If you feel like you have had your privacy breached, if images of you have been distributed online, if you are being cyberbullied, or if you want to know more about sexting, we can help.

□ Yes

I feel safe online:

□ No

□ Unsure

__________________________________________________________________

Family issues

Are your parents getting separated? Or are you expecting a child? Are you going through a break up with your partner, and want to know your legal rights? Has your partner ever abused you? Do you have a case in the family court?

My family affairs are in order:

□ Yes

□ No

□ Unsure

Housing Issues

Are you behind with your rent? Have you been forced to leave your house? Do you need your bond back? Problems with your neighbours? Or do you just want to know your housing rights and responsibilities?

□ Yes

□ No

__________________________________________________________________

ACT 2601

□ Yes

All is OK with my car:

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2 Allsop St

Motor Vehicle Worries

free legal advice.

Every weekday.

□ Unsure

________________________________________________

then you should call for

9.00am to 5.00pm

□ No

Australia in a competitive yet social environment.”

Are you concerned about how someone is treating you? Is someone: Ø harassing, stalking, threatening you? Ø damaging your property? Ø hurting you physically, emotionally, sexually? Ø is their conduct offensive?

I feel safe:

“I think the AUGs is the best event of the University calendar, because it proposes a unique opportunity to meet people from all over

Financial Troubles

‘LEGAL HEALTH’ CHECKLIST

the items in this checklist

Canberra

News

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

□ Unsure

__________________________________________________________________

Criminal Issues

Do you have any involvement with police? Do you feel the police have treated you unfairly? Have you been given a court date or any court documents? Have you witnessed a crime? Or have you been the victim of a crime and want help?

All is okay for me with the criminal law:

□ Yes

□ No

□ Unsure

__________________________________________________________________ Legal Assistance If you ticked No or Unsure against any of the items in this checklist then you should give Youth Law Centre a call today on (02) 6173 5410 or visit us at 2 Allsop Street, Canberra, 2601.

It is far better to speak to a lawyer before your problem becomes a much bigger problem. The Youth Law Centre is free and confidential – we are here to help.

Comment

Letter From Brian Schmidt Dear Woroni readers,

And there were some somber notes as well. We committed as a University to stamp out incidents of sexual assault and harassment – we still have a long way to go but we are taking important steps. This is something to which we are all steadfastly committed.

With the end of the year rapidly approaching I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best of luck with your final studies and exams. I know this can be a highly stressful time for many students but I’m sure all of the hard work and effort you’ve put in over these past months will pay-off. To those of you graduating this year, congratulations and good luck on your future endeavours. I am confident that your ANU education will help you achieve your career goals. Be patient, and be persistent! Over the course of my first year as Vice-Chancellor I have had the chance to get to know many of our students and I realise just how lucky ANU is to have such an extraordinary community of students. Students like those designing the University’s first solar car for the World Solar Challenge, like Joshua Chu-Tan

Next year will bring some exciting changes to ANU as we revitalise Union Court and strive to achieve the future vision of ANU.

who only a few weeks ago won the Asia-Pacific 3MT Challenge, like all of the ANUSA, PARSA and Residential Halls representatives who commit themselves to giving a voice and supporting so many students every year. 2016 has been a great year. In our 70th year we looked back at seven remarkable decades of transforming the nation and celebrated our achievement

with the community. We also kick started a new tradition with Australian of the Year Lieutenant General David Morrison AO welcoming all new students to campus in the very first Commencement Address. We also set a new benchmark for Australian philanthropy to a university through the generous funding of two new halls of residence by Graham and Louise Tuckwell.

Congratulations to those of you who will be graduating this year. You will always be valued members of our wider ANU community and I urge you to remain engaged with the University. To ongoing students, I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible and hearing your ideas for our great University. Have a safe break, Brian

Woroni Adopts The Wombat Bronte McHenry

On Tuesday the 4th of October 2016, the current Woroni Board unanimously passed a motion adopting the Wombat as the official Woroni mascot. The parallels between the two could not go undocumented any longer, with some calling the decision “the greatest thing Woroni has ever done.” From this moment onwards, all members of the Woroni team must be referred to as members of The Wisdom, as this is the accurate scientific label for a group of wombats. Wombats diverged from other Australian marsupials around 40 million years ago, and are now classified as a separate family. Similarly, brave members of the Woroni Editorial Board cut their ties with the hacks at ANUSA, establishing an entirely independent student organisation (which is somewhat like a dysfunctional family) back in 2011. Since these evolutionary occurrences, both groups have evolved to become extremely strong and proficient diggers (for the truth), with brains that entirely fill their skulls, indicative of high intelligence levels. While

their eyesight is often poor, they have a keen sense of smell, phenomenal hearing and are able to detect ground vibrations, making them ideal investigators. Though not commonly seen, wombats leave ample evidence in their wake. They often bulldoze through obstacles, leaving a clear and safe path behind them - just as The Wisdom have established multiple platforms of communication, accessible to each and every student, where their voices will be unobstructed and heard loud and clear. The Wisdom have made it their mission to break down barriers and overcome obstacles, so that all the other animals at the ANU have a safe path, and a safe space, in which to showcase their stories, opinions and talents. While it cannot be denied that, at times, some hairy-nosed wombats have infiltrated the group of otherwise bare-nosed wombats, on the whole, these intruders have often left the group as quickly as they came. Wombats are often considered a nuisance by the other animals around them, but this is a misconception.

Our burrows may be annoying and we may smell a little bit, but wombats can out dig a man with a shovel, and as long as there is still ground to be dug, we will be there to dig it. Admittedly, we are sometimes a little stocky, a little hairy and may awkwardly waddle around, but it is what is on the inside that counts. We are a playful bunch – head butting, biting and somersaulting constantly to display our affection for each other.

This is just the way us wombats banter. We pledge to keep waddling along, digging up dirt, and leaving a safe path in our wake. There will always be those who would prefer their ground to remain undug. To that, we say, “No.”

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Comment

Women politicians made to walk the tightrope Blair Williams

Women politicians have long endured gendered and sexist media representations. Whilst there is an abundance of academic evidence to this claim, all you need do is look back to the Gillard era, or even pay attention to the media’s portrayal of UK’s Theresa May or the US’ Hillary Clinton, to see how women politicians fare in the mainstream media. I am a product of the Gillard era. The years she was Prime Minister were also my formative adult years that important time where you figure out who you are and make your own judgements of the society around you.

The society around me, from age 17 to 20, was one of unprecedented misogyny toward Gillard. It shaped me to be a feminist fighter, and made me indignant of the way our society, and especially our media, treated her. It inspired me to focus my PhD on women Prime Ministers from Westminster democracies (Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand) and their media representations, analysing why they experience sexist and gendered coverage. So why do women politicians experience gendered and misogynistic representations in the mainstream media? In my thesis, I theorise that it is because they’re a woman in a masculine dominated space. Parliament has always been a space made by men, for other men, and it still has ties to that history today. Whilst, yes, women are entering these spaces, and making space for other women to follow them, the political sphere is still seen as a highly adversarial and traditionally masculinised zone. This is made evident when we observe the way that political commentators talk about elections or feuds by using hegemonic masculine frames and employing sport analogies or metaphors, particularly those of a pugilistic nature. Language like this inherently ‘others’ women in these spaces as per-

forming aggressive and stereotypical ‘male’ traits, directly contradicting the traditional femininity they’re expected to possess. On the other hand, women politicians must also not be too ‘feminine’ - a phenomenon that has been coined ‘walking the tight-rope’. Basically, these women are expected to walk a ‘tight-rope’ between acceptable femininity (caring, empathy, compassion, passivity) and acceptable masculinity (strength, authority, decisiveness and determination). They have to balance their performance of gender in a way that will be deemed appropriate. If

they’re too masculine they will be labelled bossy or a bitch, and if they’re too feminine they will be seen as weak and not up to the job. I argue that walking this tight-rope is essentially impossible for a woman politician, because they are indeed a woman in a masculine space. It is because of this that they are seen as deviant and inevitably ‘fall’ from their tight-rope. Yes, these women can try and balance for quite some time, but they have to work twice as hard to be seen as equally competent - women, in any traditionally masculine field, are automatically seen as less competent, whilst men are automatically assumed to possess competency. Women can work tirelessly to cling to the tight-rope, but at the first sight of a wobble they will be seen as incompetent and not up to the job. Take a look at the recent debate between Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her opponent Donald Trump: whilst Trump was allowed to be aggressive, arrogant and unprepared, Clinton had to be completely prepared and on top of her brief, walking the tight-rope between appearing too ‘cold’ (masculine and bitchy) and too ‘caring’ (feminine and weak). When Clinton smiled too much, or as I call it – wobbled on the tight-rope – people thought she was condescending

and arrogant (a trait that Trump is allowed to perform regularly). The higher in the political echelons you rise, the harder and more precarious this tight-rope is. This is because women are taking up spaces that are seen as reserved for men – like the prime ministerial or presidential role. These spaces in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have continuously been occupied by men - specifically hegemonic white upper-middle class heterosexual men – and a woman body in this space is seen as different and is therefore ‘othered’, reinforcing the role as masculine and punishing

or subordinating those who do not meet the criteria. So what role does the media play in all of this? I theorise that, when these women wobble or fall from the tightrope, and are seen as ‘other’ or deviant, and the media punishes them for their gender subversion through misogynistic and gendered coverage. To heavily paraphrase Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, what we associate with ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ traits is reinforced by dominant social structures that privilege or empower those who follow the norm, whilst disempowering or punishing those who deviate. Those who subvert gender norms are seen as illegitimate and a threat to the socalled ‘stability’ of traditional gender identities. Butler theorises that incorrect gender identities initiate a set of punishments, which I argue is what occurs when women politicians, especially Prime Ministers/Presidents, fail to follow the illusion of ‘natural’ gender roles. In other words, the media acts as a sort of protector of societal gender norms and punishes those who deviate in order to make sure our norms keep on ticking. Whether they know it or not, they are essentially protecting the gender binary, whilst also en-

suring men remain in power. Though the media may not know that they are responsible for this, and while they may contend that their reasons are due to ‘political scandals’ or the truism that sexism sells, they are playing their role as gatekeeper and enforcer of gender norms… though this is slowly changing. So where to conclude? Women politicians are expected to perform the impossibly perfect amount of masculinity and femininity in order to be seen as successful (and more importantly, not deviant).

Women politicians have to work harder than their male counterparts to be seen equally as valid or competent. It is an extremely treacherous path that these women have to cross due to their precarious relationship with acceptable gender performances and gender deviance. This is all quite depressing, so I shall finish on a high point. Gender, according to Butler, is constantly changing with every iteration. When more women enter politics, and especially when they hold the ‘top job’, this will be increasingly seen as the norm, and will destabilise the rigid societal expectations of a ‘masculine’ parliament and Prime Ministerial role. In line with this theory and to quote Gillard, “smashing through a glass ceiling is a dangerous pursuit; it is hard not to get lacerated on the way through … [though] what I am absolutely confident of is it will be easier for the next woman and the woman after that and the woman after that. And I’m proud of that.”

COMMENT

Just Another Testimonial Anonymous

Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Rape Unless you’ve been living under a particularly sizeable rock for the past year or so, you’ve probably noticed the deluge of media activity surrounding issues of sexual assault and its (under)reporting. You’ve undoubtedly been barraged with articles expounding the importance of more accessible and less accusatory reporting protocols. I’m sure you’ve been informed by every media outlet available that assault is not ok, that victims are never asking for it and that the vast majority of rapists used to be friends and partners. We all know this. Often, however, it seems to me that the main people pushing this anti-victim-blaming message are the already-outspoken activists. They’re the repeat offenders, the people who push all the messages - they’re vocal and opinionated on everything from jug prices at ANU Bar to campus-wide master development plans. This is great - the exposure of sexual violence issues beyond the interface of private counselling and compulsory seminars is a huge step forward for raising their awareness. The people often conveying this message, however, do not even begin to encapsulate the voices of all victims, either in personality or in current circumstance. I am a student just like you. I was privately educated, live on Daley Rd, and am just another of the generic on-campus residents who seemingly innocuously goes about their daily business. But I’m also not like you, because when my brother mentions how his school footy team “got absolutely raped” on Sunday morning, I freeze. A boy from that school used to rape me. I’m not like you, because when I get asked why I’m not attending a screening of The Hunting Ground, and am instead going out for dinner, I cringe and make up some bullshit reply. You see, I myself was hunted on the grounds of our very own campus. The grounds I have to force myself to walk across every day. I am not like you, because for me, statistics about sexual assault are not stickers on the back of dingy toilet doors, but a trigger: a reminder that I am one of those who has been touched in all the wrong places by sexual violence. Literally.

This is not a sob story. This is not me asking for your sympathy, or your condolences, or a fruit basket delivered by Heartfelt Cards and Greetings Inc. This is me providing you with a voice you’ve probably never

dia bandwagon that has, in recent months, characterised the discourse surrounding sexual violence. What is one more testimonial when it’s merely embedded in yet another hyperlink on yet another Facebook post? Well,

So when Facebook next offers you clickbait to a story on sexual assault on campus, chuck it a like. Like it for the people most in need of your support: the ones who, as a result of their inability to safely speak out, find unanimity and comfort in even the most tokenistic of solidarity. A quick like costs you nothing, but it means the world to someone who’s struggling to deal with the implications of their own story. It’s a big deal to acknowledge that for you, sexual assault has transitioned away from being a Serious Topic, lumped in with ‘mental health issues’ and ‘the effects of over-consuming alcohol’. No, now it’s something that affects your everyday sense of self and security, your ability to begin new relationships, your freedom to live without a constant sense of dread and fear and panic hanging over your head. It’s really shit, to be brutally honest. And the worst part? You did nothing wrong. You didn’t ask for it. There may well have been a friend or partner that you lost all faith in as a result. Like that post for me, sitting behind my computer and cowering, masked by the anonymity of a nameless article. Go to that seminar and really listen to the emotional devastation left by ruined relationships and fractured trust. Try to understand, if you can, how difficult it would be to kindle new romances when all of your previous memories of intimacy are tarred by a bruising brush.

heard articulated before. How could you have? I represent the silent portion of the community affected by sexual assault and its ramifications. I am the one who cannot speak, because that would legitimately put me in physical danger. Speaking could result in the breaking down of familial relationships, and in calls for proof of authenticity too painful to provide. I’m fucking terrified that someone reading this will recognise my style of writing, my cadre, my story, and will find me. God forbid, he could. I’m petrified, but I’m taking that risk. I think it’s all too easy to forget the significance of each individual case of sexual assault. We are drowning in the midst of the frenzied me-

it’s an actual human story. But more disturbing than that reality, is that another human is to blame for it. And yet the worst bit is still to come. For every one soul brave enough to speak up about their experiences and begin normalising the reporting process, there are countless people like myself - those who can’t speak out because the consequences are too severe and too scary. It’s all well and good for you to say that we should just value ourselves and our self-worth enough to spread the word about sexual assault. You, however, don’t live in the hall beside the man who still has you scanning Union Court compulsively for his familiar gait, or getting friends to scout out interhall social events before you dare enter.

To me, sexual assault is very fucking real. I live it every day, whether it’s by hearing an offhand comment, or by walking past his building, or by having to have a friend pick me up when I’ve scurried of to hide, sobbing, after an encounter. You’d never know it looking at me - I’m probably sitting in the very tute that you’re neglecting by reading this article. I, and others like me, will honestly appreciate you making the effort to understand sexual assault, to be informed and maybe even outraged. It means more than you could possibly imagine. So, like that post.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

COMMENT

Intolerance: A Tough Nut to Crack Lewis Pope

Donald Trump, 3 October: “When you come back from war… and you’re strong and you can handle it – but a lot of people can’t handle it and they see horror stories.” Joe Biden, later that day: “It’s not that he doesn’t get it. It’s that he doesn’t want to find out.” *** At ANU, people who aren’t Kat Carrington have spare time to devote to things that aren’t central in their

lives. And most (including Kat Carrington) have the energy and interest to engage with new and challenging things and ideas. People further along in their lives tend to be less tolerant. When I say “tolerance”, I’m not talking dictionary-definition tolerance where you just have the capacity to endure difference. When I say “tolerance”, I mean the whole-hearted embracing and celebration of difference. Of course, generations further along than us were raised in times where standards were different, but also they have kids, full time jobs, and generally reduced energy levels. As a result, while admittedly this is a huge generalisation, they have a reduced capacity to process and accept new things. It’s not so long a bow to draw to say that to be tolerant of something takes a degree of mental energy. My mum wouldn’t have had to do extra thinking, or non-standard planning for me, were I straight. In her case, she doesn’t mind the extra effort, and in fact, it has brought us closer. Nonetheless, if everybody fitted a standard mould, we wouldn’t need to engage in the laborious task of complex thought: interests would be the same, so we wouldn’t need to pretend to care about others; we wouldn’t need to be sensitive to disadvantaged groups, and no special accommodations would need to be made for anyone, since all needs would be the same. To experience, even in some small part, another person’s worldview and life experience takes real effort. So perhaps a large part of ignorance

is born from exhaustion: our brains don’t want to do extra work. If a person working under or with us neglects their part in a project, then we can rightly be frustrated. There can be many reasons – some of which we may even find palatable - for things not being assigned their requisite amount of effort. So if we accept that much intolerance comes from people being unwilling or unable to muster the effort to empathise, then perhaps we can better approach situations of intolerance. When I say that intolerance can be born from exhaustion, that is not to excuse it or to equivocate on my values. My first instinct is to hate homophobes. Misogynists aren’t worth my time. Detractors of people with medical conditions of any kind are irredeemable scum – perhaps even a basket of deplorables. There are good reasons for my instinctive reactions - after all, my energy stores are limited too. Why should the energy required come from me? The answer is that because I’m the one trying to make something change, I’d better be prepared to expend some of my own energy on it. So maybe - not from their words but from what we can read into them we can learn from people like Scott Morrison, who voiced the opinion on ABC Radio National that opponents of marriage equality also face “hate speech and bigotry”. People do feel under attack when their views are dismissed as out-of-touch or otherwise irrelevant. Insulting people will seldom make them agree with you.

This analysis is not new or insightful, but perhaps one strategy to get around this opinion-based wall is. Is it really fair that we attack people for not having the energy to reinvent their world view? Sure, if you have a gay kid, then you’re expected to try to understand. But, if Bob Katter’s impression that there were not any gay people in his electorate had not actually turned out to be so hilariously wrong, would we really have expected him to go to all the effort of empathising with a distant issue, just so he could have the final reward of finding out he had been wrong the whole time? We love the idea that we are curious and always looking for a challenge, but in reality, stepping out of one’s comfort zone is pretty tiring for the average person, whose life is already crammed full of stuff they have to care about. In cases where you have somebody who is willing to listen, I would argue that a gentle attempt at empathy, and a non-confrontational attempt at informing and interfacing, is likely to be your best bet. I would love to be an ideologue, and while I am secure in my views, I try not to be strident about them. Maybe #heforshe is too much of a sell-out viewpoint and I should stand more firm. For me, though, I think I would prefer to win somebody over than to beat them. You crack a nut with the proper application of pressure in the right places. A sledgehammer will either miss, or crush the container and the prize altogether.

COMMENT

Stress Culture Lauretta Flack

One of the most visually distinctive images of ANU O-Week is of Market Day, where lines of stalls stretch down University Avenue and the campus centre bustles with more raw student energy than any other time of the year. It’s a striking sight for anyone 3 days into a new university life. Clubs and societies, departments, and any other group that you could think of are there to encourage first years to get involved – it paints an overwhelming, if slightly exaggerated, picture of what it means to be involved in extra-curricular activities at university.

commitments. One person I spoke with was Laura, who is active in the Law Reform and Social Justice group, among other projects. She commented that “during assessment periods, particularly mid-semester, it

that my mental health has to take a backseat.” During a particularly bad point last semester she said this affected her mental health – she started to get

The benefits people see in their commitments are often linked to post-graduation futures – anxieties are high when it comes to graduate employment, with prospects more grim than they have been in three decades. Through a less cynical lens, there is no reason not to start gaining experience and contacts in a field you enjoy as soon as you can. Everyone that I spoke to talked about how much they cared about what they do, and how they wanted to make their university experience as meaningful as possible.

Most people come to university with a sense of excitement not only about getting a degree, but also about being a part of campus culture and community. For many, this means participation in a certain sphere of the ANU world: colleges, faculty societies, debating, theatre, quidditch. Time and energy gets committed to these causes in the name of socialising, building resumes and making change in the local community. It’s natural to say “yes” when you are suddenly offered such a broad selection of opportunities; you want to dedicate more time in your life to doing things you love with people you love. If you have a little free time in between work and studying, it seems like a great idea to join in on a project, check out a new society or start some volunteer work.

What is less often factored into this motivation behind people’s decisions to take on extra-curricular commitments, is an underlying social endorsement of being as ‘busy’ as possible, which is often equated with success itself. Michael, who has been involved in societies on campus as well as Woroni, explained their concerns about the way the campus community approaches stress. “We have a culture which glorifies exhaustion and over-commitment. We joke and complain about how much we have on, how little sleep we’ve had, how many things we have overdue.

This is how we think about our extra-curricular activities: we are given back what we put in, or roughly so. But, here we are faced with a problem: this equation of personal cost and altruistic satisfaction isn’t altogether balanced. One of the first things people are ready to overlook as a side-effect of their dwindling free hours, is the toll on their mental health and their ability to relax outside of their

she is ready to make based on what she gains from these extra-curricular experiences; “You’re getting something valuable in return that will not only enrich your uni life, but will help after graduating as well.”

gets difficult to balance the amount of time needed to successfully complete coursework and extra-curricular work, alongside the paid work I need to sustain myself. Often this means

daily headaches, was constantly exhausted, and at some points suffered from dissociation.

This feels like friendly camaraderie in the face of difficulty, and often it is, but it can also be a subtle reinforcement that this state of over-worked exhaustion is just the natural way for students to be. Sardonically celebrating our exhaustion and over-commitment is fine, but sardonically celebrating something normalises it and in a way genuinely celebrates it.”

She added that these are sacrifices

Celebrating stress and busyness as in-

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

evitable parts of a successful lifestyle is particularly problematic, especially when considering that the ability to live with these pressures is an economic and mental health privilege that is not attainable for all university students. This, of course, does not stop people who possess less privilege in these areas from taking on the same responsibilities. However, the consequences are very different. In this environment it can be hard to judge where the tenuous line between being comfortably busy and living with stressful overcommitment lies. I spoke to Tess, who is involved in the ANU Women’s Department and other gender-based advocacy on campus, about this. She said, “Knowing that I have to get out of bed and do things and interact with people is actually helpful for my mental health up to a point. But, you don’t know where that point is until you’ve taken too much on and you realise, ‘Oh my god I’m really stressed and I can’t cope.’” Juggling commitments that require different types of responsibility can often defy any consistent definition of ongoing expectations. This is especially true of any roles necessarily involving emotional labour, such as any advocacy or pastoral care work. Tess went on to share that, “On a quiet week it might not be many hours

at all, but it’s a significant amount of time. A lot of it is emotional labour, so it’s difficult to switch off. You can’t just say, ‘No, I’m not going to moderate this discussion on the Facebook page.’ You feel a lot of pressure with people relying on you and you need to be responsive.” At other times pastoral care work requires self after-care which, while it may not be a written part of the role, is necessary to keep your own wellbeing in balance.” Emotional labour, she added, is a responsibility that people with marginalised identities often – disproportionately – bear, simply due to the nature of the unpaid advocacy and activist work they engage with. This is yet another invisible factor that makes managing commitments and personal wellbeing a more complex task. When someone has hit a peak of stress with their commitments, it’s often not immediately visible in the work they produce. Tess described her experience of stress at university as something which hits her after an overwhelming event. She said the effect of the work is not often very evident to others, “It’s so strange and frustrating when you’re having a bad time after a stressful week and everyone’s complimenting you like ‘oh that went so well, you’re so great.’ And

COMMENT

you’re like ‘I don’t want to get out of bed for the next week.’” It still isn’t common in any space – not just in universities but also in workplaces or other communities – for discussion around mental health to substantially address problems like stress and anxiety that don’t cause a significant detriment to productivity. In addition to that, recognising and contextualising stress or anxiety comes with its own unique challenges. It’s easy to develop self-doubt in the context of university, where symptoms can be written off as normal or expected for ‘busy’ people. Mental health awareness campaigns targeting university students have grown in prominence in the past few years, and by no means do they ignore the fact that university students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing stress and anxiety. They do, however, focus for the most part, on individuals and their part in managing their own mental health or supporting others. This is important work, but ultimately, it only tends to the result of poor mental health rather than attempting to change the environments that cultivate and normalise stress. An environment doesn’t always look like a bunch of people sitting around telling other people to do something. It can be the way someone is talked

about in conversation, the structure of a project or an organisation, or the kind of advice someone offers. It can end up jumbled around and enmeshed with other thoughts and feelings we have about our lives. It’s complicated to speak about and more complicated to change. When university culture works towards placing equal value on individual wellbeing and individual achievements, the more meaningful and rewarding our work becomes. We should afford ourselves these opportunities to know our own limits and our own definitions of success. Help make this space for people around you – praise the people who know when to take a step back so they can put themselves first.

Artwork by rachel powell

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

MONDAY OCTOBER 24 @ 6.30 PM LLEWELLYN HALL, William Herbert Place, ANU ADMISSION RSVP for

IS FREE numbers at

ALL WELCOME www.andrewleigh.com

Be a part of Doctor Karl’s mission to interpret the beauty and the mystery of the scientific world around us. The Fenner Lecture series is hosted by the Federal Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh. With the new electorate of Fenner having been named after the scientist Frank Fenner, who better to christen the series than our most prolific and well known populariser of science, Karl “The Doctor” Kruszlenicki.

PRESENTED BY LABOR’S NORTHSIDE REPRESENTATIVE

Andrew Leigh MP

Authorised by Andrew Leigh, 8/1 Torrens St. Braddon 2612

COMMENT

(Inter)National Nitpickery Curious about world news, events or the occasional Australian political blunder? Every edition, we’ll be deconstructing politics and topical events from the outside world, poking the shitty bits with a nice long stick and commenting on its tangy smell. Perhaps we’ll find a nugget of golden wisdom lurking within?

Golden Medals of Great Controversy Adrian Hindes

Nobel Prize season is upon us, and with it always comes a host of news tidbits; good, bad and ugly. From cells eating themselves, to unusual states of matter - the science side of the Nobel Prizes this year have certainly been interesting. The peace prize this year was awarded to Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian President, for bringing a 50 year civil war to an end, which is good to say the least. You might be wondering, where is the shitty-ness in all of this? I must admit something. Although I write about politics and world news, I am in fact, a physics student in disguise. The reason I am writing about the Nobel Prizes this week, is in part due to Richard Feynman - a late famous physicist in the field of quantum mechanics who was himself a Nobel Laureate; and also one of the first notable recipients to call out the Nobel prizes on their bullshit. Feynman is quoted to have called them “Alfred Nobel’s other mistake” (the first being his invention of dynamite), and criticized them for placing too much importance on social status. I for one, along with many students, scholars, academics and researchers, have a huge massive fucking bone to pick with the Nobel prizes which is inherent to their very design. That is, they give credit to at most a few people, when in the natural sciences, research is done by teams and massive collaborations such as CERN, LIGO and ITER. Don’t get me wrong, we should celebrate breakthrough achievements in such fields, but not by handing

halo”, despite actually harming society and equality. These are all peanuts of controversy compared to the type which encapsulate the Peace prizes however. Whilst these year it would appear to be well deserved (although just wait in the next few weeks someone somewhere will stir up shit about it), due to the political nature of the Nobel Peace prizes, it’s unavoidable that recipients and even entire countries get mixed up in trouble for it. An extreme example is the 2010 prize which went to Liu Xiabo, and promptly incited a diplomatic freeze between Norway and China. China actually tends to be butthurt about the prizes quite a lot funnily enough - mostly since Japan wins way more than them (22 more to be exact, since 1949).

one or two lead scientists a piece of gold and $1.5M. But hell, that barely even scratches the surface of the issues surrounding the Nobel prizes. Now, I could go on a salty rant about there being no Nobel prize for mathematics, but there is in fact an entire (rather long) Wikipedia page dedicated to chronicling the slew of controversies that surround the Nobel prizes each year. This isn’t exclusive to the Literature prizes either, which have arguably the biggest shit-

storm orbiting around them with authors declining prizes left and right due to political reasons. The Economics prize, for example, wasn’t even originally on Nobel’s list of disciplines to be awarded a prize - the Bank of Sweden funds it. For an academic field which has as much impact on the world as economics, hinging economic policy on a single economists who happens to also be a Nobel Laureate is dangerous to say the least. Indeed, many financial policies in the past and present have been celebrated thanks to the “Nobel

Ultimately however, the Nobel Prizes are probably a better thing to have in the world than not. They put prestige in the eyes of the public for many academic fields, bringing much needed praise and idolization to science and academia as a whole which wouldn’t be there without it. That being said, the prizes probably make it too easy for Nobel laureates to go off and have significant influence, such as being Vice-Chancellor of a particular university and knocking down colleges.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

COMMENT

I’m Not a Cunt, Joel Briony Roelandts

I have a long history with the word cunt. Nineteen years ago I was born with what the word historically refers to – female genitalia. I was 14 when a boy named Joel called me a cunt in Year 8 Art class. I did not know this boy well; we were not friends. In fact, I stayed away from his crowd of bully boys at school. But as we sat on adjoining tables in the art room, as I politely asked him if I could borrow a drawing pencil, I could not have imagined what his response would be. “No, cunt.”

And I didn’t even know what the word meant. The definition of cunt has been widely contested. Modern revisions define cunt as an unpleasant or stupid person (“What a cunt!”). Some people even use the word with a positive qualifier (“What a sick cunt!”). Yet cunt is the only word in the English language which refers to the whole of the female genitalia (vagina only refers to the entrance FYI). Historically, the word has maintained its anatomical definition. These negative and positive revisions have come and gone, with some dictionaries even acknowledging slang usages of the word. In my experience, it is very rarely that I hear the word used by a woman. Generally, I find that it is men calling people they find disdainful “a cunt”. So, does this make the word cunt an insult?

I was shocked.

Perhaps I should take an anatomical word and begin using it as an insult. Left shoulders are pretty insulting, right? Wrong. The use of the word cunt as an insult is derogatory. Its use seeks to portray female genitalia as, well, bad. And given the fact that a difference in genitalia separates men from women, does that subsequently make women bad too? Today, the use of the word cunt is seen as taboo. The word should not hold such negative connotations, and when it does, it is a reflection of a society with a poor attitude towards women and their genitals. The way I see it is, we have plenty of insults in the English language. In addition, we have plenty of compliments. But, we have one word for the entirety of female genitalia. So I believe we should stop using the word cunt out of the context of female genitalia.

I am calling for women to reclaim the word cunt, and for both sexes to begin using the word in its correct context. One could propose that if we stop using the word cunt as an insult, then we must eradicate other specific-sex genitalia-related insults like “dickhead”. But I’m not going to speak for men and what should or shouldn’t offend them and their genitals. It’s not my place. All I know is that when I hear the cunt word used as an insult, my genitalia and I are offended, because my genitalia are not bad. And I, as a woman, I do not feel respected when my genitals are used to offend others. So, fuck you Joel.

Australian Question Time is Redundant Keny Arcangeli I’ve gone to more Question Times then I care to admit. Yet on every occasion, I find myself questioning the purpose of it and what additional layer of substance it provides to Australia’s political affairs. Imagine being given the answers to an exam, then having to sit the exam, and then writing out the pre-written answers whilst your lecturer looms over your shoulder making meaningless remarks the whole time. Welcome to the 70 minutes of Australian Question Time. It’s a phenomenon that occurs at 2pm of every sitting day. It happens in both houses, although most attention is focused on the House of Representatives as that is where the Prime Minister answers questions first hand. In parliamentary terms, it’s referred to as Questions Without Notice, though if you were to struggle through the

whole session, you would realise this doesn’t describe it at all. Questions are asked of the Prime Minister and their Ministers from both sides of the house. Those asked by government backbenchers are usually a means for the government leadership to boast about what they’ve done and accomplished. Meanwhile, questions asked by the opposition or crossbenchers are usually hostile, focus on clashing policies, and receive nothing but a backhanded, dismissive, and somewhat dogmatic responses. In addition, with the exception of morally sensitive issues, the opposition will almost always jeer, interject, and shout comments whilst the government answers the questions put to them. Question Time is broken. There is barely any wit. The banter is sub-par. It is nothing but an open playground

where MPs and Senators unload any excess ego, whilst appearing engaged in the public eye. The information ‘revealed’ has normally been discussed in a press conference or release earlier in the day, and the issues discussed have always been extensively reviewed during tabled debates. And yet, it is broadcasted each and every sitting day, and prominent members of the press gallery, such as Sky News’ David Speers, regularly attend. It’s nothing but an act of showmanship for all involved, and barely contributes any substantive towards the political debate. If you want to see an entertaining and intellectual Question Time, look no further than the House of Commons in the British parliament. It is fast paced, full of relevant and insightful content, and contains a lot of wit and

solid banter. Whilst its format varies slightly to that here in Australia, the British system provides a tête-à-tête of both leaders of the major parties, which openly displays the true personas of the leaders and more specifically, the Prime Minister. It’s time we had a similar system in Australia, or at least, have politicians that use the 70 long minutes already available to have some honest, substantive debate.

Comment

Woroni drops ball on Men’s Collective reporting Codie Bell An article published on Woroni’s website on July 30th titled ‘ANU Men’s Collective Seeks Affiliation and Awareness’, has come under fire from some sections of the ANU community. It has been criticised for presenting an unbalanced perspective on the controversy surrounding the creation of an ANU Men’s Collective Facebook group, and the group’s push for on-campus recognition. The title of the article itself is misrepresentative – ANUSA Social Officer, Helena Hu, has confirmed that there has been no record of any men’s group attempting to affiliate with the ANU Grants and Affiliations Committee, a process which would allow them to receive funding from ANUSA. The alternative to GAC affiliation would be to move a motion to create a men’s group as an ANUSA committee. As of the ANUSA Ordinary General Meeting on the 9th August, no motion has been moved. In the article, when discussing the issue of university affiliation, comparisons are made to the University of Sydney’s Brotherhood, Recreation and Outreach Society (BroSoc), a similar society at another university. The article claims the society was ‘barred from formation’ by the University of Sydney Union in 2014. This is incorrect – although the USU Board

originally voted to delay the formation of BroSoc, after a rewriting of the BroSoc constitution, the society was granted affiliation and evidence of its activities into 2016 can be found on its Facebook page. A pressing concern for members of the ANU community is expressed by Holly Zhang, who notes that the particular Facebook group that the article deals with was originally created in response to incidents of individual men “violat[ing] the safe space of the Women’s Department by uploading screenshots of people’s names and content of posts onto the public group ANU Stalkerspace, following some aggressive comment threads which did not exhibit an understanding of the Women’s Department work, nor respect for our autonomy.” She goes on to note, that given the extremely reactionary and heated nature of public discussion surrounding the context creation of this new group’s creation, she “understand[s] why women may be concerned about whether this new group would be antagonistic towards the Women’s Department, our work, or our members.” On these concerns from some woman students of the university, only Sebastian Rossi, the President and administrator of the group, is quoted in the article. While Rossi firmly dis-

missed the idea that the ANU Men’s Collective had any association with men’s rights activism or online misogyny and harassment, it is to be anticipated that the leader of a group aiming to become a part of ANUSA would be quick to categorically deny any association with misogyny. When I myself was reached for comment, I chose to speak only on the condition of anonymity. My reputation as a ‘campus feminist’ had made me the target of a lot of nastiness from fellow students – including during the same incident Zhang cites as the origin of the ANU Men’s Collective group. While I provided ample evidence of the harassment I had received at the hands of the ANU online community, it appears that my concerns were not considered relevant by the student journalist who reached me for comment. It is neglectful journalistic practice to ignore how the existence of a group created in the context of inflammatory anti-feminist rhetoric might make minority students of the ANU feel unsafe. Linnea Burdon-Smith, the current Women’s Officer, has also commented on the unprofessional behaviour of the Woroni team, saying that the student journalist “approached community members for comment in a demanding and aggres-

sive manner”, while not understanding that a student publication “has the ability to influence the discourse present in the student body, university administration and broader community … [and] provides the nation with an understanding of the values we hold as a community.” The position of power afforded to student journalists requires the acknowledgment of the privileges and prejudices they bring to their journalistic practices, Burdon-Smith states, and she has been disappointed by the conduct on display in the development of this article. The backlash to feminism and the rise of ‘men’s rights activism’, which often uses the Internet as its vehicle for harassment and hate, is no strange phenomenon to the women of ANU. At the same time, the intersection of masculinity, mental health and male violence is also being interrogated by passionate and intelligent students on campus. Woroni and its team of student journalists appear not to fully understand the responsibility they have to present these issues faithfully and professionally to the student body, and the students of the ANU should demand better from their representatives.

Wilson Security on Campus: An Update Lizzie Storor and Dom Cradick Disclaimer: Lizzie are Dom are both members of the ANU’s Refugee Action Committee On August 13, Woroni reported on the subcontract between Wilson Security and the Australian National University. As was revealed upon the Guardian’s publication of the ‘Nauru Files’ on August 12, employees of Wilson Security have been found guilty of the abuse of men, women and children whilst performing their function as security guards on Nauru, the Australian government-funded offshore refugee detention facility. Given the atrocious misconduct detailed within the 2000 leaked files, the widespread public outcry following their release was highly justified. National attention and support for Getup’s ‘No Business in Abuse’ campaign grew exponentially. Then, on September 1, Wilson Security announced its

decision to discontinue operating on Nauru upon the end of its contract in 2017. A little over two weeks later, on September 19, Connect Settlement Services, another ‘welfare provider’ on the island, announced their decision to follow in the steps of Wilson. The decision of both companies was based off the Australian community’s response to the files, and should serve as an example of success to the sceptics who decry the effectiveness of people power in the modern era. Despite the efforts of the ANU’s Refugee Action Committee (RAC), however, the Chancellery has maintained its position of apathy and inaction concerning its contract with Wilson Security. On August 16, a motion was put to SRC condemning ANU’s employment of Wilson Security, which

passed unanimously albeit one abstention. A month later, members of ANU RAC were successful in interrupting a televised Sky News press conference being held by Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton. Building on the momentum this action created, RAC held a protest on September 22 calling on ANU to boycott Wilson Security, with over a hundred staff and students attending. This event happened to coincide with Southern Cross University’s cancellation of its contract with Wilson Security, proving to us that the power to terminate such a contract exists within the university administration. It is the conviction of the ANU Refugee Action Committee that actions on campus against Wilson Security will not stop until guilt is admitted and compensation is afforded to the victims who suffered at the hands

of those employed by the company. Similarly, RAC’s demands to ANU administration remain steadfast. We demand that the contract with Wilson Security be terminated, but wish for those in non-managerial roles to maintain their jobs. For members of the ANU community who would like to support our fight to bring attention to the plight of refugees illegally imprisoned in offshore detention by our government, please come to our upcoming event ‘Amps not Camps’, a night of music to raise money for the Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services, which is being held at the Polish Club on October 21. Details for the event can be found on the RAC Facebook page.

Comment

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Safe Spaces? Katherine Prouting

The University of Chicago recently penned a letter cementing their official stance on trigger warnings and safe spaces - a stance that was, in my opinion, profoundly negative, because it denounced a need for both.

in question had previously acted in an aggressive manner in study spaces often filled with women. The University, of course, did not condone this behaviour, but my point is that the presence of safe spaces would allow people to study and socialise in places that are not pervaded by this kind of language or behaviour.

Now, I see where these people are coming from, they see trigger warnings and safe spaces as a detrimental to the educational process and not helpful in preparation of the ‘real world’. I, however, fundamentally disagree with these two conclusions - a disagreement that is based on my own experience and the experience of others.

People who are in need of safe spaces are scarily well acquainted with the real world - they face increasingly negative pressures about their existence in this very world on a daily basis. The University of Chicago choosing not to acknowledge this is an affront to many. Much of the backlash against trigger warnings and safe spaces is grounded in arguments for ‘free speech’, though this itself is a multifaceted and complicated topic that shall not be explored in this particular article. The University of Chicago’s letter,

Without the safe spaces available at the ANU, I would have genuine issues with being on campus. My involvement in university life has remained active and safe because of groups such as the Disabilities Students Association, The Ethnocultural Committee, The Women’s Department and The Women of Colour Collective. I know that when I overhear people discussing mental health issues and condoning suicide in the Brian Kenyon Student Space, I can enter the Disabilities Spoon Space and be around like-minded people who do not wish me havrm. I know that if men were threatening me, or others, in study spaces, I could seek refuge in the Rapunzel Room that is owned by the Women’s Department. There have been many times I have felt deeply unsafe on campus, and I am thankful that ANU has these groups, and safe spaces, in place.

motivated by this same call for free speech, may have surprised many, but it did not surprise me. In March of this year, the United States Department of Education launched an investigation into the University of Chicago for two violations of Title IX. In addition to this, the Department is also still investigating claims against the University from 2013. In fact, Olivia Ortiz, the lodger of the 2013 complaint, recently praised some policy changes that the University had introduced, but ultimately concluded that the University was not doing enough. The University was also recently discovered to have been severely mistreating students utilising mental health services. One student, named Jasmine Wooten, visited the University Counselling Service with depression, and was immediately hospitalised in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks. When she returned to the University, administrators hand-

ed her a notice indicating she had to be out in 48 hours. Ultimately, the University of Chicago’s decision to officially reject trigger warnings and safe spaces says more about the university’s treatment of students, than any ideas about the ‘real world’, or a failure to engage in the educational experience. At around the same time as the aforementioned events, a group of young women from the Australian Anational University were working in a study room when a male mature-age student entered. He began to berate women studying his degree for their desires to be professionals, given the best time of a woman’s life are her prime childbearing years. He concluded that female academics should be excluded from his field due to this biological predilection. When one woman retorted that she was not interested in having children, he responded by saying, “Wait until you are thirty-two and your biological clock starts ticking.” The individual

The idea that safe spaces do not exist in the ‘real world’ could not be further from the truth. Each of the ANU groups I have mentioned have active online presences, and it is through the power of the internet that many can find a safe space to discuss their thoughts, views and experiences without fear of judgement. I actively create safe spaces by having like minded friends and assisting them in times of crises. Having a physically safe space is not always achievable, but it is desirable, and a step in the right direction. This is why I cannot fathom the position of the University of Chicago. Artwork by Nikki Porter

INTERNATIONAL

Ethics in Global Fashion Emma is a Law & International Relations student, and aspiring diplomat with a passion for journalism. This Semester she will be challenging the everyday choices we make, and the origins of the very clothes on our backs, as she explores a range of ethical concerns relating to global fashion.

Identity ethics Emma Wiggins

Let’s recap. Since July this column has discussed issues of morality related to fashion: the burqa debate, environmental issues, sexism, branding and sweatshop labour. Fashion is great, but it creates injustice in our world. As consumers, we all contribute to these injustices. As cliché as it sounds, we have the power to make a difference. Without us, the fashion industry has nothing. Today, I thought I would discuss consumers and designers embracing this power. Local designers often engage in more sustainable and ethical practices than multinationals. Often, these stores do not have the wealth of resources that commercial chains have, and are therefore unable to purchase materials and manufacture clothing in unethical environments overseas. Instead, independent designers usually rely on local products - like Australian wool etc. - to manufacture their garments. They also tend to rely on local labour - meaning that workers are paid acceptable wages because they are employed under Australian labour standards, as opposed to those of developing countries. Independent designers are thus more likely to produce ethical and sustainable clothing. The number of independent designers, both here in Australia and abroad, is increasing. It’s become ‘fashionable’

to shop at local boutiques. This is a positive step for ethical fashion, and there are a number of reasons for this growing trend. Firstly, there are simply a greater number of independent designers’ boutiques for consumers to shop at. This is because it is increasingly possible to make independent boutiques financially viable - largely a by-product of globalization. It’s well-established that globalization has facilitated the spread of social media, and social media has enabled independent designers to reach, and advertise their products, to a larger audience. I mean, think of the number of times you’ve received an “invite” from a friend on Facebook to like a local brand’s page. Independent designers and local brands are no longer forced to solely rely on the ‘word of mouth’ to promote their businesses. Bespoke is now more fashionable than mass-produced products. Secondly, the poor quality of mass-produced clothing often deters consumers. Globalization has enabled these corporations to utilize these rapid means of production in order to cheaply produce masses of clothing for stores all around the world – however, this comes at the price of good quality. Local design-

ers, in comparison, are not forced to produce clothing on such a large scale. Moreover, they have their finger to their customers’ pulse, monitoring the styles, materials and quality of the garments their particular audience favours. This data can easily be used to change designs mid-season. People want to associate themselves with this personal element - it adds a kind-of ‘natural flair’ to their image, and also means that because the store is one-ofa-kind nothing in it can be found anywhere else. Maybe this reflects the growing desire of our generation to carve their own identity in the world a generation wanting to stand out from the current ‘fast fashion’ con-

sumerist culture. Regardless of motives, the growing attraction to this identity is reflected in the profits of these boutiques. The worldwide trend towards independent designer, ethical clothing was reflected in the Fashfest line up here in Canberra. As many as 10% of designers in the showcase actively pursue ethical and sustainable clothing lines. One of these designers, Pure Pod, believes that their success lies in their label’s rebuff of the ‘fast fashion’ trend, and endeavours to design and produce clothing which doesn’t date, and so won’t end up in landfill a month after it’s purchased. Their success demonstrates that consumers have responded to this idea. Indeed, their growing customer base suggests that people are increasingly looking to associate themselves with this unique, natural and ethical image. So, while in my previous articles I’ve suggested what not to buy, today I’m saying (after exams!) go out and spend at local boutiques! Be conscious of the fact that you’re doing the right thing by others and the planet. So happy shopping ANU – enjoy Australia’s unique fashion!

INTERNATIONAL

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

The Armchair Expert As an Arts and IR student from Melbourne, my column offers a broad perspective on current International affairs. I’m in my first year, draw political cartoons and major in history. Living on campus and keen on politics, my column Armchair Expert hopes to keep you informed for when politics come up in conversation.

Why Clinton Will Win GUY EXTON

Everyone, it seems, has their own insider information about the U.S. election. We love regurgitating, with a smug look on our faces, that “Trump has tapped into something” or that “you might be surprised come November.” It’s as if the FBI has had a sit down with every Politics major and said, “This is just between you and me, OK?”

cians alike throughout her campaign. Infrastructure, tax reform and gun control may actually become a reality.

But there actually is a fairly accurate way to predict why Hillary will win. Just look at a map. For starters, the Democrats have a huge advantage: California. California is the Texas of the Democrats. The Democrats’ ‘A New Hope’ to the Republicans’ ‘The Empire` Strikes Back’. It’s the biggest state in the union and has 55 Electoral College votes. Remember, you only need 270 to become President. Next up on the pro-Clinton list are New York (29 votes), Illinois (20 votes) and New Jersey (14 votes). All solid blue. Compare Clinton’s top four states to Trump’s. Even Texas isn’t considered safe this year, but we’ll give it to him anyway. Texas has 38 electoral votes (17 less than California). The next biggest red states are Tennessee (11 votes), Indiana (11 votes) and Mississippi (10 votes). So, Trump’s biggest four states give him a grand total of 70 electoral votes. Only 200 to go. Clinton’s big four, on the other hand, give her 118. Almost double.

The good news for the Democrats is that this trend continues down the page. The Founding Fathers had the bright idea that you could lose more states, and still win. Worse yet for Trump, you could win the total popular vote, and still lose. But, if there’s hope for Trump, it lies in the battleground states. It’s all very dramatic. Trump, however, shouldn’t be too hopeful. Florida is the need-towin state for Trump with its precious 29 electoral votes, though it’d be nice for Clinton too. Clinton, however, has consistently polls higher than Trump in the state that Obama won in ’08 and ’12 - and everyone knows Clinton is secretly just Obama. All in all, we may as well start act-

ing like Clinton has already won. Something unheard of would have to happen for her not to – like a leaked document showing a $1 billion loss or a leaked 2005 clip of her objectifying women. But that’d never happen… Winning the White House, however, is only the first half of Clinton’s worries. Currently, the Republicans control the senate 54 seats to 44, and the house 247 to 188 due to some generous gerrymandering. Yet, in part due to the right honourable Republican presidential nominee, the Democrats have a real chance of overtaking this trend. If the Senate and House turn blue, genuine change may sweep America. Clinton may even be able to fulfil the promises she’s made to voters and politi-

But folks, this is the U.S. of A. and it’s unfortunately likely we’ll see a repeat of the wartime tactics the Republicans deployed against Obama in 2008 if (when) Clinton is elected, with the right wing simply not negotiating. Obama was the first President to have been denied a budget hearing in the senate. When asked why they were delaying the passing of a budget bill in 2013, a Tea Party Senator replied, “We want to get something out of him, we just don’t know what.” He was also the first President to be denied a Supreme Court hearing. Sadly, this treatment was likely because he was the first African-American President, which indicates that Clinton - the first woman President - may find herself at the receiving end of similar prejudice. If politics is sport for nerds, counting electoral votes is keeping score. All in all, Guy Exton predicts that Hillary Clinton will win roughly 330 electoral votes and topple Trump in a landslide. The state of the Union, however, remains to be seen.

International

令人心痛的英雄之路 Heartbreaking Road for the Hero 刘珺滔 Juntao Liu

大约800年前，在中华大地上诞生了一位悲剧英雄，文天祥。他开始只是一名书生，因才识过人，成为国家栋梁。他原本会有辉煌的前途，却不幸出生在危机重重的末世。他效忠的南宋王朝，正在风雨飘摇中苟延残喘。忽必烈的骑兵大举南下，宋军主力大败亏输，各地守将望风而降。败报。败报。还是败报。南宋小朝廷危若累卵，百姓人心惶惶。天空中黑压压的云彩如同元朝的虎狼之师，压得整个临安城喘不过气来。此时此刻，城中的文武心惊胆颤，年幼的皇帝魂飞魄散。而故事的主人公文天祥，正在散尽家财，组成义军来勤王。遗憾的是，南宋灭亡的趋势已无法挽回。文天祥兵败被俘，元朝将领劝他给宋军残部写劝降书。文天祥给了他自己写的一首诗表示拒绝：人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青。元朝将领沉默。崖山海战结束，南宋十万军民投海殉国。文天祥因被士兵看管，无法自杀，被押北上，去见大元皇帝忽必烈。忽必烈爱才，希望文天祥为自己所用。 “你若归顺我大元，我保你不失丞相之位。”

文天祥拒绝了。刑场上，文天祥整理衣冠，向南跪拜。故事还没有结束。他的妻子收拾他的尸体时发现了他衣服中的赞文：孔子说成仁，孟子说取义，只有忠义至尽，仁也就做到了。读圣贤的书，所学习的是什么呢？自今以后，可算是问心无愧了。

About 800 years ago, a tragic hero, Wen Tianxiang, was born in the land of China. Wen began as a scholar. Because of his extraordinary knowledge, he became a national pillar and would have had a brilliant future. But unfortunately, he was born in the time of a crisis. The Southern Song Dynasty, which Wen was allegiant to, was precarious in the storm of Mongol conquest. Kublai Khan’s cavalry came to the south. The principal force of Song was defeated and all of the defensive collapsed. Defeated.

Yuan generals were silent. After the battle of Yashan, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty jumped into the ocean, becoming martyrs. Wen could not commit suicide under of the surveillance of his captors. He was detained to the North, to see the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan. Kublai appreciated his talent, and encouraged Wen to work for the Yuan Dynasty. “If you work for our Dynasty, I promise to maintain your position of Prime Minister.” Wen Tianxiang refused.

Defeated once again.

On the execution ground, he tidied himself up and bent his knees in worship towards the South. But the story had not ended.

The small court of the Southern Song Dynasty was at stake, and the people were in panic. The black clouds in the sky were much like the fierce army of Yuan Dynasty, which gave tremendous pressure on the entire Lin’an City and made it breathless. At this moment, the hearts of the city and military trembled in fear of the young emperor.

When his wife picked up his body, she found these words on his clothes: Confucius advocated benevolence. Mencius advocated justice. Only when loyalty is done to its best, will benevolence be realised. What will we learn from reading the books of saints? From now on, I can harbor no regrets, because of my clear conscience.

Defeated.

The hero of this story, Wen Tianxiang, used his family wealth to organise the army towards rescuing their emperor. But unfortunately, the trend of demise of the Southern Song Dynasty had been irreversible. Wen Tianxiang was defeated and captured, and Yuan generals expected him to write a letter to persuade the remnants of the Song Wen to surrender. Instead, Wen wrote a poem to express his refusal: All men are mortal, but my loyalty will illuminate the annals of history forever.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

International

Against the Grain: China in a Globalised World Bridget Devery

Globalisation has brought people from different nations closer than ever before, as advances in communications technology and diplomacy facilitate trade and friendship across the globe. So how can nations retain the characteristics that make them unique in the face of the homogenization or “Westernisation” of their cultures - be it language, music, fashion or food?

my, and thus the global perception of China as a powerhouse, has shifted. In the first quarter of 2016, China experienced an economic growth rate of 1.1% - the lowest since 2011. This fact, along with other measures being used to project an image of China to the globe - such as technological innovation and sporting performance - seems to be resulting in a change in people’s mindsets.

Many nations, with China as the prime example, have managed to forge a strong national identity in the face of rapid industrialisation. One reason for this could be the strong sense of nationalism and pride in China, a movement that has been both state-led and organic in nature. As the country’s economy slows down and political tensions rise, nationalism has become more important than ever to the Chinese people.

Many who observe goings on in the Asia Pacific region have seen recent tensions regarding the South China Sea Ruling, where the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China had no claim to an exclusive economic zone in a disputed region of the South China Sea. After this ruling, protests and calls to boycott foreign brands sprung up around China. While it is hard to verify the authenticity of some of these accounts, tales of Chinese patriots smashing their iPhones appeared on Weibo, the Chinese internet platform, and protests were held at KFC restaurants around the country. Previously, Western goods and brands were seen as status symbols in China. Now, it seems, in the face of political and economic instability, nationalism has become even more important to the Chinese people as a way of promoting identity and pride in heritage and culture. However, with China’s tightly controlled state media, it is hard to discern how much of this movement is a “grassroots” phenomenon, and how much is influenced by various media and government controls.

Recently, China has experienced rapid and sustained economic growth, only beginning to slow down in the last few years. This growth has been largely fuelled by a huge manufacturing and export industry, and recently China has started to move into innovation and development of its own. As a result of this boom, China is home to some of the world’s largest cities. In the Australian psyche, these cities are seen as crowded, polluted places, with no room for nature. While it is true that they aren’t exactly utopias, with many suffering from the anxieties and health complications of city life, by no means are they merely the centres of capitalism and labour that some in the West see them to be. For example, in a city such as Shanghai, one can see a fantastic blend of old and new. Right next to the Plaza in Hongkou district – a six-floor cathedral to capitalism where one can buy luxury goods, enjoy fine dining and of course, sing karaoke – are an eclectic collection of convenience stores and noodle bars, where elderly patrons sit outside fanning themselves in the hot sun, or playing mah-jong in the evening. It is this contrast that characterises the divide in China between old and new, Communist and Capitalist, East and West. So how have Chinese cities maintained their unique traits in the face of this change?

On the streets of Shanghai, an old woman washes vegetables on the street outside her small store. Nearby, I pass a Gucci store on my way to enjoy a hot pot with my classmates. There is really no logic to the blend of nationalism and globalisation, but I think, for now, the city remains uniquely Chinese. China has greatly benefitted from the economic reforms carried out by the ruling Communist Party in the 20th Century. Deng Xiaoping, who became premier in 1977, is largely credited with establishing the institutions and rule of law needed to stabilise and encourage this development. The Chinese Communist Party has often followed a nationalistic line, encouraging people to be proud of their heritage, it has become a hybrid of authoritarian gov-

ernment and capitalism, with a freedup economy. According to Robert D. Kaplan, people are happy to accept an authoritarian government so long as the establishment continues to deliver economic growth, which in turn, benefits the people. However, political instability follows economic slowdown. In the case of China, when examining economic data, one can see that China’s econo-

International

Notes from Macedonia Kate Matthews

Text from July 8, 6:20pm: “I’m sorry Mum, but I went hitchhiking.”

Just a few days later and I was complaining about the complicated bus schedules and ambiguous bus stops to Lake Ohrid, when my friend explained how commonplace hitchhiking was in Eastern Europe, and that I should give it a try. Back in the communist era

am forever grateful for this eye-opening experience. First was an eccentric Albanian man with a van who, despite speaking no English, could communicate extremely well. For translation, he called his wife’s sister’s cousin, and although we got pulled over by police

I went on to learn a bit more about the political tensions in Macedonia. A huge volume of leaked phone tapings reveal corruption on the highest level, even involving the cover-up murder of innocent revolutionaries. Their Prime Minister at the time, Nikola Gruevski, was made to stand down through the Przino Agreement mediated by the European Union.

Admittedly, she was less than pleased, however, was glad I was safe and alive. Fresh-faced, 18, and hitchhiking down Macedonia weren’t high on her list of ‘things my daughter should be and do’. The journey began in Skopje, a city that I had heard mixed reports about. Some said it was fantastic, and others said it was nothing special. I spent a few days there and met a British guy my age who showed me around. In the main square I admired the obscenely giant Alexander the Great statue. There was a fountain at the bottom of this monstrosity with hundreds of water jets, in between tall-standing lions. One central column rose out of the centre, and was surrounded by warriors in battle. The column towered up and up, and then on top was a circular platform, above which was a huge rearing bronze horse with its rider (Alexander the Great) thrusting a sword into the air. It was playing a sound and light show when I walked past, with the fountains moving to the music. Crazy.

that the government is building hundreds of statues and new buildings in attempt to rebuild/re-image the city, but because of this, it is not spending as much money on its citizens. Hence, the statues have become symbolic of the tensions between the government and its people.

Three women, dubbed the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ of Macedonia, have been appointed to the Special Commissioner’s Office to combat this corruption, with an 18-month deadline to either indict the politicians, or drop the charges. The statues of Skopje now took on a more sinister look. The boys knew Ohrid well, and eventually left us at a great camping spot. The lake was ethereal, and a little hike to the fortress left me sweaty, but the physical effort wasn’t the only thing that was breathtaking. A mad dash skinny dip left my friend and I feeling jubilant, and on top of the world. It had been an adventurous and rewarding day. We pitched the tent in the forest in the light of a full moon, close to the fortress but with a view over the lake. I’m constantly redefining my interpretation of the word ‘picturesque’ - and we didn’t have to pay a cent. not many people had cars, so walking along the road that led to your destination and being picked up was very common – and sometimes, the only transport option. The next day, we set off together for Lake Ohrid. Writing on a cardboard sign and sticking my thumb, I felt an excited thrill. I decided to not tell mum until after we arrived safely… We wrote in Macedonian and English, “OHRID / ОХРИД”. A variety of people picked us up that day, and took us as far as they could go. I learnt so much wedged in the backseat of these people’s cars, and I

for erratic driving (being let off with a wink), it was a great first experience as a hitchhiker. Taking us the final stretch from Kichevo to Ohrid were two young guys, eager to play Slavik pop and discuss politics in their beat up matchbox car. I gleaned a lot from the comment “we are not out of socialism” and the contemplative silence that sat afterwards. I mentioned the volume of statues in Skopje, and they grunted in distaste. “Skopje is known for its statues,” they explained, “but not for all the right reasons.” They explained

Here, all it takes to make a friend is one wise crack, a smile, and the shake of a hand. Friends overseas lead to being included in the best of things with the best of people. Like hitchhiking to a lake in Macedonia! People need people, and travellers get that like no one I’ve ever met. We will part ways tomorrow, me heading South, him heading North. That’s the way it goes

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

International

The sun shines the brightest at home Maddie Kibria “Really? Well… I wonder what life was like for you. I mean… I don’t know much about the place, but I haven’t heard the best of things….” This was the umpteenth time I had heard that same response. Always the same message, just said with a different combination of words each time. The same hesitation in their voice, the same uncertainty, the same condescending tone, as if I was somehow “less than”. I too, respond the same way each time, smiling and saying, “It was great. I had a fantastic childhood and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world”.

I grew up playing sport at school, running between the bright green and purple, uneven, concrete basketball courts lined with palm trees, and the soccer field that was riddled with patches of grass and mud, under the scorching 40-degree heat of the sun. I grew up sitting through traffic jams where you’d be lucky to move an inch every hour. I grew up sneaking out of the house to ride rickshaws without the hood up, to ride paddleboats a day before exams, on a lake so murky you couldn’t see through the surface, eating ‘phuchka’ doused in tamarind juice that was almost certainly mixed with water from sewage drains. I grew up learning to love the stars, as I would be lucky to spot even one

through the smog that veiled the night sky. I grew up leaving the house in my pyjamas with my best friend at 10 pm because she felt like hot chocolate and weed. I grew up eating the ripest and freshest of mangoes, lychees, starfruit, and oranges sold by that one fruit vendor who sat next to the tailoring shop my grandmother knew. I grew up running around the school halls asking for lunch money, and claiming I would pay them the 20 taka (30 cents) back the next day. I grew up shivering and throwing on every sweater, scarf, and beanie I had every time the temperature dropped below a “chilly” 20 degrees. I grew up having four plates of sweets being shoved in my mouth every time I visited a relative. I grew

up wearing the brightest, most extravagant sarees, dancing and eating at weddings where I knew neither the bride nor the groom. I grew up getting soaked in acid rain on my friend’s rooftop and laughing as our parents berated us for catching colds from our childish ways. I grew up in a loving household, surrounded by the best family, the best friends, the best food, and the best teachers, in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh. I grew up in the most beautiful place on Earth and the place that will forever have my heart - it’s home.

International Law: often scorned, rarely understood Sari Tollenaar International law never claimed to solve all problems. Like practically all law, it seeks simply to be a lesser evil compared to no law at all. – Jean Bricmont Walking on campus to get an after-class-coffee with fellow students, I shared my surprised feelings about the scepticism at ANU towards international law. Our professor in a Masters course in International Relations had just mentioned “the threat of the use of power” – by which he meant the threat of the use of force, as expressed in article 2(4), UN Charter, 1945. According to him, this threat should be used much more often in international relations. In addition, he stated that international law only applies to powerful states when they see fit. My fellow students were not surprised at this attitude, arguing “it does not apply because states do what they want anyway”, and if I disagreed, maybe it was “because you are European.” In combination with earlier discussions about the function, righteousness and even existence of international law, this confirmed the scepticism amongst students, academics and government representatives I have spoken to in Canberra. The scepticism that I encounter at ANU seems to be based on a fun-

damental misunderstanding of the concept of (international) law. In essence, international law is a means to govern relations between sovereign states. In the aftermath of World War II, a strong need was felt to establish a system providing the possibility of peaceful dispute resolution. As Higgins put it, “There is no more important way to avoid conflict than by providing clear norms as to which state can exercise authority over whom, and in what circumstances.” The sociological question of whether a system of rules or norms forms a body of law, is separate from the question of whether and how law functions. Equally, the philosophical question of whether the law is just or moral, is separate from the question of whether and how law functions. The confusion of these separate questions blurs the distinction between what law ought to be and what law is. So how does international law govern the relationships between sovereign states? In 1945, the United Nations was established, based on an agreement between 50 states called the ‘United Nations Charter’, which today has 193 member states. This subsequently meant the establishment of the International Court of Justice, which was given jurisdiction over disputes between states on the basis of

several sources of international law. There are multiple sources of international law, for example treaties, which can be seen as a type of ‘contracts’ between states. The Genocide Convention is an example, as well as the founding treaties of the European Union or the World Trade Organization. In that sense, international law also has the capacity to create new entities. Other sources are international custom and general principles of international law.

a need to act in adherence with international law. Interpretation on the application of specific laws may differ, and result in different behaviour. Especially when states threaten or use force, they have to persuade the ‘international community’ on the basis of legal arguments. One of many examples is the argumentation to use force based on self-defence, as put forward by the USA and its allies to justify Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 in Afghanistan.

The system of international law is based on a so-called Westphalian notion of states. The idea that states form the legitimate concentration of power in today’s world is increasingly challenged, and maybe rightly so. However, that does not challenge the existence nor the relevance of international law as a means to govern international relations. It is unavoidable that states do not always act in a way that can be morally approved, which does not say anything about the validity of international law. Although there is a correlation between some norms in international law and morality, the idea that law equals justice cannot be upheld. The fact that governments rely on legal grounds to justify their behaviour does not undermine international law. If anything, it affirms a states’ belief that there is

In addition, the fact that states do violate international law does not undermine the existence of the system itself, nor does it challenge the application of the law. As in any domestic legal system, the law cannot (and is not designed to) guarantee total adherence to it. When a criminal group (continuously) violates legal norms, it does not mean that these norms do not exist. In short, legality does not necessarily equal legitimacy. One should not be sceptical about the concept of international law as such, but rather ask what the world would look like if we did not have international law.

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Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

FEATURES

Should Australians Celebrate Halloween? Laura Wright

When I first came to Australia last spring, I was quite disappointed to learn that nobody here celebrates Halloween. What kid wouldn’t want to choose a classic costume (I was a pumpkin for four years), decorate their house with cobwebs and pumpkins, and go from doorto-door yelling at old people to give them candy? Halloween seems like such a fun, harmless holiday, but admittedly, there are some ugly truths beneath the surface. For me, the holiday gained new meanings as years passed. As a kid it was all about the candy. At the end of trick or treating, my favourite tradition was when my brother and I would dump all of our candy onto the floor and trade with each other till we had all our favourites (whilst inevitably eating half of it in the process). By the time Middle School rolled around it was more about passing out candy to the younger kids, playing pranks and scaring the wits out of each other - though I personally didn’t engage in any tricks, only treats. One of my favourite Halloween memories is the haunted corn maze. My friends and I once stood in line for two hours to enter, only to experience just two minutes of horror because one of my friends fainted and the other peed herself at the sight of clowns with chainsaws.

By high school, now that Halloween parties were in the mix, dressing up was suddenly cool again - though the costumes had suddenly become a bit more provocative. By university, Halloween had become a three-week-long event. Fraternities and friends would throw parties with Halloween themes the week before, the week of, and the week after the hallowed October 31st date. Boys and girls would scuttle home the mornings after still decked out in their costumes. One year I was Tinkerbell and I proudly rocked my fairy wings the 2km back to my dorm. Inarguably, some of my favourite memories come from preparing for and celebrating Halloween, however, I’m far from being an advocate for the holiday to expand its reaches to Australia. In addition to those who have religious qualms about Halloween, there are serious health and social concerns. According to the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, 63% of adults and 25% of children in Australia are overweight or obese, but some expect the latter number to rise to 65% by 2020. Promoting a holiday that glorifies the mass consumption of sugar, chocolate and other unhealthy snacks shouldn’t be on the agenda. In 2008 alone, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that $58 billion was spent on health care for obese people.

Furthermore, Halloween night is rife with dangerous alcohol consumption and drunk driving accidents. The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that on Halloween night in 2011, 38% of fatalities were because of drunk driving, and The Columbus Dispatch reported that pedestrians were 35% more likely to be hit by a car. Picking out a costume is one of the best (and most stressful) parts of Halloween, but it can also present serious social issues. Cultural appropriation is damaging, and is a common occurrence on Halloween when you see political correctness slip away as people create loopholes for unjustified behaviour. I’ve seen people dress as “Mexicans”, “geisha girls”, “gangsters”, and “Native Americans”, and I put all of these in parenthesis because they incorrectly stereotype people and communities. On Halloween what you wear as a costume, someone else sees as an identity. You may see it as a joke, but they may see it as humiliating, degrading, a loss of control of their identity, or even as an inaccurate representation of their culture. During the semester I spent living in a college on campus here in Australia, I was saddened to see a list go around for Girls’ Night that had some people dressing as “Mexicans”. Those who showed up wore sombreros, fake

moustaches and ponchos. Needless to say this is not an accurate representation of Mexican culture, and it is a damaging stereotype that people are constantly confronted with. While some may feel like they can wear someone’s culture for an evening, others feel circumscribed to wear a costume that others have already given them, or may simply have no role models to emulate. One of my friends has told me that when she would choose costumes, she felt that because she was Chinese her only options were Mulan or Cho Chang. My friend felt marginalised and excluded because she saw so few people in the media that she could model her costume on. Social lines that dictate what a person can or cannot dress as can be harmful to children trying to build an identity for themselves. Social constructs that make girls dress like princesses and boys dress like superheroes can be very harmful in the long run. So, no, I don’t think Australia should celebrate Halloween. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of costumes that aren’t offensive, and it’s more than possible to have a fun night while avoiding alcohol and chocolate, but many people won’t make the right choices. photograph from the woroni Archives

FEATURES

CAMPUS HORRORS: ARCHITECTURAL CRITIQUES OF CAMPUS BUILDINGS Chris Wren “Why yes, ANU does have pretty grounds. Lots of trees.”…goes every conversation about ANU. The early years of ANU wasn’t a good time for architecture: our campus is littered with brute and nasty architectural horrors. Perhaps it’s time to get Sirius with them… Kaaaaabooooom!

sides the fact that each mezzanine floor doesn’t really line up with any other, and it’s difficult to tell whether the elderly bearded chaps are professors or lost students from the ‘60s, it has a certain ‘stockholm syndrome’ charm. Whether this is genuine charm, or mere bafflement, is hard to tell. The hexagonal design is seemingly an architect’s joke reference to its namesake HC ‘Nugget Coombs’, or the result of a lost bet in the pub.

The School of Music

An Orwellian exercise in brutalism, this heavy concrete lump is a travesty of the human imagination. Blunt, harsh and foreboding – it speaks more of a cold-war nuclear installation, than a temple of music. Grimly grey, awkwardly girt by a sea of carparks and other thoughtless arrangements of space, it howls an arrogance and bloodymindedness. With no real sense of an entrance (with the needs of the person an afterthought) patrons must scurry round the edges, down corridors, up stairs, round corners and through door after door. The belly of the beast is large, and cathedral like – adding the only sense of openness to the building. Whilst the newish refurbishment has softened the interior with honey-coloured woods and scarlet fabrics: you can’t polish execrable architecture. The actual seating, particularly in the upper levels, much like the mind of the architect – is detached from the reality of humans needs. If you’re caught sitting upstairs, far from a royal box – you weirdly stare at your counterpart across the room, thus rendering the need for peripheral vision to see the stage. Admittedly, the upper level which sports a well stocked café has a nice expansive view of Black Mountain – but the story of the Englishman who ate his dinner in the Eifel Tower, because it was the only place where he could go in Paris where he could not see the Eiffel Tower, comes to mind.

The Chancellery

The Chancellery is an imposing composition, with the faintest echoes of collegial gothic. The perpendicular ribbing which intersperse the narrow windows down the flanks of the building, and which end in blunted finials, add to the sense that it is referencing a medieval chapel: though without the sense of awe, beauty or purpose of Kings College Chapel in Cambridge or Keble College in Oxford. The large glass east and west windows, far from being great illuminating stained-glass windows, shed light only onto stairwells. This alone

Other horrors on campus: (sorry Fenner, you don’t count) Burgmann College:

The USSR called and wants its military base back.

John XIII College:

Good strategic use of trees and foliage to block its hideosity.

Ursula Hall:

Creative adaptive use of multi-story carpark.

College under construction:

It’s a pity the scaffolding will come down.

New Science Buildings: betrays the limitations of translating beauty with the sparse vocabulary of a modernist high rise. Besides some blank wood paneling, the interior reveals no great surprises, adopting the white anonymity which is the default of the blank modern office. Ignoring the charmless, dark and heavy blocks which break off the main chancellery tower complex, the broad, cloister like walk is the most elegant and inviting aspect of the building. With the gentle sounds of the fountain bubbling, and shedding dancing light over the serene sculpture of a reading woman – it is about the only aspect of the building that evokes the ageless beauty and academical contemplation which it awkwardly fails to capture in any other sense.

Union Building

A cantankerous, ungainly creature, the union building is merely a placeholder until the will and the means exist to replace it. Giving off the sense that it was the result of a failing architects first project, it speaks

of a suburban arcade that ultimately went into early liquidation because people would rather drive to the next town to buy their goods and chattels, than venture forth into its dimly lit hodge-podgery. It’s like how you’d imagine the Burrow – the abode of the Weasley family - except rendered in 70s drab brick and concrete. It has the aesthetic of a carpet warehouse in Fyshwick crossed with the amenity of an RSL club, whose specialty just happens to be providing cut-price student eats instead of weekly pensioner bingo. Ultimately, the only warmth this building inspires is conjured from a fresh Campus Bakery Pie. In the long run, we’re likely to remember the pie far longer in our nostalgic reflection on the halcyon days of university life.

Coombs

What this building lacks in logic, it makes up in legend: known to many as ‘The Catacoombs’. Labyrinthine and confusing, only the foolhardy and the foolish venture into this lair of the minotaur. Enter if ye dare. Be-

Designed entirely on SIMS, and with the same childlike glee.

BNG:

Those giant concrete emergency stairs nicely accentuate the historic charm of the anonymous red brick.

Unilodge:

The future ain’t pretty.

AD. Hope:

Forsake all hope.

Crawford School:

Good thing it’s so far away, choice use of stone.

Bruce Hall:

Are they selling popcorn to spectators on demolition day?

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

FEATURES

The politics of fear Izzy Wilson

When we think of leaders who rule with fear we usually think of historical overlords in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes - such as Stalin, Hitler or Mao. What gets ignored is the reality that fear seems to be a subtle, but even more prevalent weapon, in current democratic political discourse. It is now an institutionalized practice for political leaders to use fear instead of inspiration in order to maintain power. Leaders who rule by inspiring are meant to make people optimistic about the future, and push for a change in the status quo or the system. Many modern leaders, however, who attempt to wield inspiration are seen as weak, naïve and idealistic traits that are futile when it comes to creating practical outcomes. We have become too scared to put our trust in inspirational leaders because they seem to have either perpetually disappointed us, or actually created new fears. Barack Obama went into the U.S. election with the weight of the people on his shoulders, hoping to build

a new, progressive America after the presidency of George Bush. A hostile congress, however, meant that it was extremely difficult for him to implement some of his most important reforms surrounding improved health care and gun regulation. Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is another modern leader who has become renowned for leading by inspiration throughout Europe. She is a leader taking ambitious measures on issues such as refugees and climate change. However, despite her ability to actually implement reforms - such as having the highest refugee intake in Europe and having a higher quota for renewable energy - the fear that this has created within the German public about the instability and threat this could have to their own wellbeing, has caused her popularity has plummeted. The fear that is fostered by leaders in modern, industrialized democratic systems is not a ‘fear for our lives’ like seen in traditional authoritarian regimes, but instead, is a fear of our Western “lifestyles” being compromised. This anxiety is vulnerable to

exploitation by politicians who exaggerate danger, fuel the fear, and offer themselves as a solution. This is no longer simply a policy platform of the conservative side of politics, but has merged into popular discourse. Parties on the progressive side of politics perpetuate fear of how the conservative politicians could threaten welfare, whilst the conservatives threaten that the progressive side could endanger social norms and conventions. This can be seen in the current U.S. presidential debate. Donald Trump and Clinton have engaged in pure fear mongering, and through the process of “mud throwing”, are simply trying to convince the American public that the opposition poses a greater threat than they do. Trump promotes the fear that the lives of the underrepresented working class will not change, while Clinton promotes the fear that Trump will create catastrophe if he were elected.

in the public are always tackled conservatively, because other approaches pose too much of a risk to the popularity of the politicians. On the issue of asylum seekers, for example, both Labor and Liberal have reached the same consensus in their alternative terms in Government - that people who immigrate to Australia by boat should not be settled in Australia. Despite all the humanitarian or ethical issues this has raised, deciding policy courses through the lens of fear rather than with a moral compass, is seen to be a more reliable option to ensure that power is maintained. It is the unfortunate truth that it is currently easier and more common for a leader to rule with fear, if their priority is to hold onto authority, and even popularity. No matter what the political system, fear always wins.

Australian politics demonstrates how issues that are deemed ‘controversial’ and stir up significant common fear

Her Fear Amanda Chen She knows, in the bottom of her heart, that if she is not busy enough, if she is not occupied with her assignments, slides, theses and so on, she would be so sad she would cry. She cannot help feeling scared.

will go away. She is afraid of being abandoned again, and yet she relishes in the chance to be alone. She cannot bear watching on as the guy who had been hers is now with some other girl. Her fear is extreme uncertainty.

She is young and naïve, she hadn’t ventured into society before, and she had never been abandoned. She had imagined it though, read novels about it, and speculated how she would react. But imagination is never enough. In the past, she hid inside the shell of university, making do with books and theory. Her parents protected her too much. Growing up she lived inside a castle, closed off from the harsh world by narrow hallways.

The fear, her strong and gigantic enemy, is impacting her ability to study. Yet she knows if she stops she will be more miserable. She does not know how to deal with the fear, sorrow and depression that twist her heart. So she pretends they are not there, working on her endless mound of homework instead. She has few friends to talk with. She has come here from a foreign country and is introverted. To speak up would mean interrupting people who seem so busy with their assignments. She has tried watching comedies, but she ended up feeling guilty for not studying. She tried talking with her mum, but she has her

But now she has been abandoned. She feels fear now, endless fear. Uncertainty. She feels insecure, skeptical, and wonders when the negativity

own concerns to tackle. So she stays in the library, alone, yet surrounded by so many others. Her only companion is the song she plays on repeat, “I am too scared to stop now; I am too scared to let go.” The greatest fear is her fear of being herself. She doesn’t like herself, and refuses to let her true colours shine through. As a matter of fact, amusingly, she doesn’t even understand what her true colours are. Her fear is unattractive, she knows this. The dry lecture slides, complex formulas, confusing numbers and long theses are now her saviours –distractions from her unnecessary fear. She still remembers what a psychologist once said to her, “When you are afraid that something will hap-

pen, one way to eliminate the fear is to create an opportunity to allow the event that you are scared of take place on purpose.” Is this true? She fancies herself as having lived out this wisdom every day, but in reality, she doesn’t have the courage to face her fears. She is fearful of being herself, in case others abandon the real her. She didn’t realise that she would abandon herself first. She now is writing her feelings here. She is happy to have found the strength to admit her fear in some small way. She feels brave for admitting the existence of her fear and sorrow. She has made the right decision.

FEATURES

Issue 13, Vol. 66

Slip of the Lip Hailing from the glorious city of Queanbeyan, I spent my first year of uni dabbling in Physics, Maths, English and Music. By some drastic turn of events, I am now majoring in German and Linguistics. A Slip of the Lip is a linguistics student’s attempt to provide interesting and (reasonably) well-researched language titbits.

Halloween, Jack-O’-Lanterns and Zombies, oh my! Caroline Hendy With Halloween (and exams) coming up, there are some frightening times ahead, but how much do you know about the history behind these spooky words? I now present you with the origins of ‘Halloween’, ‘jack-o’-lantern’ and ‘zombie’… Halloween Though there are certainly many aspects of Halloween that stem from Celtic Pagan traditions, the name ‘Halloween’ itself is of Christian origin. The 1st of November is the Catholic festival ‘All Saints’ Day’ – alternatively known as ‘All Hallows’. A ‘hallow’ is just another word for a saint, or if you’re a Harry Potter buff, it can also mean any symbolic, powerful object of legend. The 31st of October is thus, All Hallows Eve, and has been referred to as such since the mid-16th century. If you speak Scots (a language in – you guessed it – Scotland), the word for ‘eve’ is ‘even’, which contracts to ‘e’en’. With a little bit of laziness and a whole lot of time, we’ve ended up with: All Hallows Eve – (All) Hallow(s) E’en – Halloween. Jack-O-Lanterns As early as the mid-17th century, Jack-O’-Lantern, or “Jack of the Lantern”, was a term used to describe a night watchman – ‘Jack’ being a generic name for any unfamiliar man. The name was also given to the lights than spring up over marshlands (likely as a result of chemicals oxidising), because they looked like spooky watchmen traversing the night. Ac-

cording to Irish legend - though the term actually comes from the tale of ‘Stingy Jack’ - one day, Stingy Jack met the Devil, and convinced him to go for a drink before he was taken to Hell. The Devil obligingly agreed, but Jack, being stingy and all, didn’t feel like paying for the drinks. The Devil, being other-worldly and having no cash, suggested that he turn himself into a coin in order to pay. Stingy Jack thought this was a brilliant idea, and once the Devil had turned himself into a coin, Jack put him in his pocket next to a silver cross so the Devil’s powers were thwarted and he was stuck in coin-form. Jack eventually released the Devil on the condition that he be allowed to live a while longer, and the Devil wouldn’t take his soul when he eventually did die. Fast forwarding a bit through the story, Jack died and went up to Heaven. God was all like “uh-uh, you’re a sinner through and through,

down to Hell with you,” but because Jack had made the Devil promise not to take his soul, the Devil wouldn’t take him into Hell either. Jack was doomed to find his own afterlife - he begged the Devil for at least a light to find his way, and the Devil threw him an ember. Jack took it, stuck it in a turnip, and began his eternal journey. When the practice of putting lights in vegetables at celebrations eventually made its way over to America, it was discovered that the native pumpkins were perfectly suited to the tradition. Children also worked out that carving scary faces in them made the whole thing just that little bit more Halloween-y. Thus, the current jack-o’-lantern. Zombies The word ‘zombie’ likely derives from the Kongo word nzambi, meaning “god”. The word, and significant elements of Haitian Vodou practice, made their way over with the slave trade from

Africa to Haiti in the mid-17th to 18th century. The first reference in English of ‘zombie’ in the sense that we now use it was in W.B. Seabrook’s 1929 sensationalist book, The Magic Island, as ‘zombi’. The concept of the walking undead has its roots in Haitian beliefs, though (from my limited knowledge of the topic as someone who has never lived in Haiti nor met a Haitian) appears to be parallel to, rather than actual part of, the Vodou religion. A bokor, a sort of sorcerer who deals with darker magic, is believed to have the ability to turn a person into a zombie – in most cases using an existing corpse, but in some cases killing a person expressly for the purpose of zombification. These zombies themselves are not particularly harmful, and are mostly reported to be used as slave labour on plantations. The prospect of being turned into a zombie is actually far more terrifying than the prospect of encountering one. Thus, the process of zombification is actually outlawed as murder according to Haitian Penal Code (Article 246), as long as the ‘lethargy’ associated with the zombification process leads to the burial of the technically still-living victim. So there you have it. There are (in my opinion) the origins of the most interesting word in the spooky Halloween phenomena. Happy Halloween everyone!

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

The Veins of Fear Jade McKenna

Psychology views fear as an unpleasant emotional, physical and cognitive response to a stimulus or an event that poses a threat of harm or loss to us. When someone is threatened, they feel afraid and take action accordingly. That reaction is intended to preserve their best interests - we throw punches, run away, retaliate. Fear holds an incredible power. It incites action, and therefore influences outcomes - it is widely speculated that the popularity of Donald Trump comes from a rising fear of terrorism in the USA. The opposition to the Safe Schools Program comes from fear of a blow to conservative values, heterosexual marriage and the innocence of children. Fear can be authentic and bigoted at the same time - the sharp fear that hits me when a stranger walks behind me on my way home alone is in the same vein as the fear that another may feel when I display physical affection to another woman in public. If all fear is authentic, that is, the person feeling it experiences the physical rush of an increased heart rate and heightened awareness, how can we argue that their fear ought to be discarded when it is due to a stimulus we do not view as fearful? Phobias are misunderstood, but more openly accepted than a fear of women in power. I would argue, however, that fear of women in power is far more common than diagnosed phobias. Yet one is acceptable in a socially progressive society, while the other is not. This poses the question - why is this fear more common, and how do we go about changing it?

The claim that someone is not afraid, they are a bigot, is oversimplified one rarely claims that they are a bigot while arguing for racial segregation, because their opinion stems from fear and a belief that that fear is valid. This is no excuse for discriminatory behaviour, but this understanding allows us to challenge bigoted views and behaviour from their roots. Research shows that negative attitudes towards immigrants in France are correlated with how little contact people have with them - if you work with, study with, or live next to an immigrant, you are far less likely to view them as a threat. In psychology this is called systematic desensitisation, the process of losing a fear of a stimulus due to repeated exposure to it and realising it does not pose any harm. This method cannot be repeated for every fear, as exposure does not change biases for everyone. Approaching someone with a harmful view or opinion is less emotionally taxing when you recognise that their views are coming from a place of fear, more than malice - it allows a more constructive dialogue to take place. If what a person fears approaches them with aggression, they are not going to be receptive to its message - so perhaps we need to be the bigger people when dealing with bigoted views, and offer up more kindness than we think they deserve in the hope that it makes a positive impact on what is ultimately their misguided fear. Artwork by Ellie Brotchie

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Features

CREATIVE WRITING END OF TERM Sue Nym Could we chump at the tiddle At the timulous wot of the niddle? Or soop the glorious bodle? Too true, we of finted twaddle. But hurk the minted wurk That erks near the furrow lurk. The twee of kree demands. With shunt ferumulous gurunds. Swoop the tabular rinng Of a bolping ven-toopa and thing Ever depose the col born Of the gilded ol, dolorn. But lay the sirring jauk. That layest in the hauk. And squim the folage. That fains and fosts.

Ere- yunder weedles Mid bleering keedles. Fost truth on ousalls Tiree blosh nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; woosals. Wah, Pah, oolon bah. Airish mah, oolon hah. Hashin blear, ol bar. Eah, Sah tarry nar. Eist willin washuls Datch yondil dosuls. Falamar on derah. Pah, wah, oolon bah. In dil fash tol. Bas ik, hoolon dol. Inik horos mah. Gurom, holon ta. Bosh

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Features

there’s always a siren singing over your shoulder Alex Johnston i will wake up without a thumb i will wait for a bus that never comes ... i will wear a smile that is not mine i will sack temple without the fine ... i will summon an old friend i will reverse an old friend ... i will lay you down in a bunker underground ... i will enter the line ... but not today

“What are you afraid of?” A Little Fuji Apple Loud I once was… You might contradict and tell me I’m louder now. No. I used to be loud with my thoughts. Now I am quiet. ‘You were shyer before…’ No. I reserve my opinions for myself. You. I see you struggling too. Struggling to keep your thoughts restrained so that they never trespass into the world beyond your lips But you have a lot to say. A lot to contribute. Sometimes I get lost in the ‘you’s, the ‘me’s, and the ‘I’s. I see parts I know so well in you That I stop myself from doing things Because I know too well how you will react And how I will be reflected in your eyes. What am I scared of? Judgement? Offending? You? Who am I wary of? You? Or the part of you in me and me in you?

FEATURES

Paper Tiger Daughters Lakhena Leng Turn it back to Year Zero – My mother shuts her eyes; Says her rice fell with her foot And her heart stretched south Like a reed upon reeds. She tells me she must’ve been six, Maybe ten – filthy foot; ten Hundred grains afloat, but hey, Today the floodplain fish will eat. A tin a day, no more Or less, you see, the less you see – Struck, her matchstick pupils saw What the men who weren’t looking saw: Baby watermelon torn from tendrils No, you cannot ask for more.

Two zero zero zero: Brother, disavowed son; I saw father crack a modem Over brother’s bloodied brains and I heard A small voice yell, Please, somebody Dial zero zero zero – But nobody came and your lips Unspooled. Wound a web between your ribs. I sat until my hands fell from Daisy’s tiny ears Then I shook, shook, shook slack-jawed for years.

And how I wish I were powerless, but mother – please, I am not; you know, father never saw the They strapped the tendril-bodied thief mummified tongue, But the inert thing To a stake while the rest of would twitch and curl toward the sun. the children stared I smothered it with shadow, kept Down empty tins. Mouths it tame beneath my feet, aren’t juicers and But it wormed until it danced, Melons don’t fit but my mother saw them broiled barefaced in the heat. Squeeze until the child shook slack-jawed, Ground straight to the core.

You laid out our futures like fossils; a full-blown Cardiac archaeologist. I dug, too – For twenty-two Decembers; uncovered Four chambers crusted with the belief That we were paper tiger daughters. Here now – Mother, take the trowel, I don’t know if you’ll find That your chambers look a little like mine.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

FEATURES

World spins Alex Johnston the rosella dove from the branch as it had done for every morning since its early years when it was a a squalling thing afraid of the ground it was finally and no more that bird among birds the rosella dove from the branch the ground didn’t seem as hostile now in fact it seemed to the falling thing a closer and dearer friend by the second

Limbo Kumar Sambhav Gupta When it’s almost lost in the best of times, There is no hope and vision in sight. Life provokes you to surrender, The beast must die forever. Every door seems to be drowned, In dark dreams of the new king crowned. And when the city is ready to fight, Come out of the dreadful night. That ray of hope appears, That requires you to clear. Accept the sins of past, Come again and be real in every task. It’s not about winning or losing, More of a competition of cruel kings. Wake me up I don’t want no more sleep, This limbo is a lie and killing me from me. A pinch and I realise, It’s real it’s my tough life. Calm down no easy plays around, Another day another time another round. I’ll be back with a bang not for the arena, But in the eyes of the loved once be a John Cena.

ARTS & REVIEWS

Dendy Film reviews Deepwater Horizon reviewed by Mary Waters

Deepwater Horizon portrays the true story of an offshore drilling oil rig that exploded in 2010, creating the worst oil spill in United States history. Mark Wahlberg plays chief mechanic, Mike Williams, in a performance that remains grounded in a sense of realism. This is what makes Deepwa-

Bridget Jones’ Baby reviewed by Blake Lovely

Bridget Jones’s Baby is a movie that delivers everything that seasoned Bridget Jones fans are after - as long as you enter the cinema with below average expectations, anticipating the formulaic plotline of a woman, desperate for a man, who will only able to achieve happiness by having a child, then you’ll leave happy.

The Magnificent Seven reviewed by Alex Johnston

Going into the cinema, I was quite intrigued to see what The Magnificent Seven remake had to offer. This modern take is a lot of fun, mainly due to the good rapport and visceral actioneering of the titular seven individuals, as they attempt to protect

ter Horizon so fascinating – it is your traditional ‘disaster movie’ because it encapsulates and recreates the intensity of the event, but it doesn’t feel too manufactured for the big screen. Many disaster movies have the tendency to be incredibly overwrought, but Deepwater Horizon authentically depicts the gravity of an event that claimed eleven lives and had rippling effects across the world. The film details the stories of the crew members battling BP executives - the latter of whom are so hungry for profit that they ignore objections from those on the ground and dispute a negative pressure test result so they can start drilling immediately.

Director, Peter Berg, creates an intense on-screen time-bomb, and by the time the disaster strikes, the tension is already unprecedented. Explosions and the constant gush of oil, both in partnership with the sound design, is incredibly effective to say the least. The film offers no reprieve, and does not shy away from the incredibly raw reactions of the people caught amongst the disaster. It is a rare disaster epic that thrills, without sacrificing detail for an easily-digested plot.

Sadly, the film adheres to popular mainstream cinema’s tendency to represent women as only able to find fulfilment and validation in their lives by sourcing a male counterpart, becoming pregnant and raising a child. At one point in the film, the character of Bridget Jones goes so far as to say something along the lines of, “I used to feel empty, but now I have this little being growing inside of my tummy. I’ve found purpose and happiness in my life.” Whilst the film does much to subvert previous cinematic stereotypes, such as the token same-sex couple, it also perpetuates to viewers that without a child, females are essentially directionless and lack meaning in their lives.

Although the art of cinema has been greatly developed over the last century-and-a-bit of its prominence, the heroine is still all too often reliant on her hero. Even with a prominent talent like Renée Zellweger, the women is still characterised as unfulfilled until such time as they are domestically stable, adhering to current gender representations in Hollywood.

humble townsfolk from the mid-sized baddie in black.

one of the best film actors of the last 30 years. The man manages to be emotionally intelligent without ever needing to resort to cheap tricks, and maintains an effortless cool that would make Miles Davis sweat. Chris Pratt undergoes no transformation and is exactly the same character we all know and love, whilst Hayley Bennett out-J-Laws Jennifer Lawrence (viewing necessary). The film is supported by a very able cast, and thus provides a very pleasant 2 hours of viewing.

The resulting film is not lacklustre, though very familiar. The cinematography and music (composed by the late James Horner) during the sweeping landscape shots is glorious, but frames during the interior scenes range from average to awkward, with some characters being oddly misrepresented by certain angles. In a nutshell, this film is a revenge-action-Western in the vein of The Revenant, just without the artsy metaphysics and wealth of snow. It is a perfectly likeable movie that reconfirms Denzel Washington as

Woman have been hoping to see this norm abandoned since its beginning, and whilst steps have been taken, features such as Bridget Jones are all too obvious reminders that change needs to happen faster.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

ARTS & REVIEWS

Free Dendy Tickets: Just write a 200 word review! Email Arts@woroni.com.au Snowden reviewed by Conagh McMahon-Hogan Making a true story more cinematic than documentary is a delicate and precarious process that ‘Snowden’ does not quite achieve. Although well cast, the film progresses like a truck up a hill, with the plot interrupted by off-topic romantic tensions and unnecessary story-additions. As such, the potential impact and intrigue that the plot should give the viewer is lost in a 139 minute cinematic cluster. The film follows the events before and after the leak of classified NSA data by Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Lev-

itt) in 2013… If only it were that simple. Rather, filmmakers decided to have the story jump from a hotel in Hong Kong, to a military training and hospital montage in 2004, to tests in 2006, back to Hong Kong in 2013 and so on. Chuck in a Nicholas Cage cameo and here you have a broken and confusing tale. Along with the flashbacks and stop/starting main plot, which by its own nature is interesting and engaging, there is also a side plot following Snowden’s romantic troubles with girlfriend Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) - which does nothing but interrupt the story and drag the run time. Interruptions continue with the addition of dramatic scenes to an already exacerbated story. It seems that in an attempt to make Snowden relatable, the main focus of the film is blurred. Such plot diversions do not

take away from the performances, like Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s perfectly bland depiction of Edward Snowden, and Rhys Ifans unlikeable Corbin O’Brian. The support acts also build a relatable and believable cast. The story of Edward Snowden, from dedicated patriot to whistleblower, is in and of itself interesting. It is a shame, therefore, that ‘Snowden’ did not just focus solely on this and instead included non-character building military training and romantic interruptions. However, with fine acting and an engaging main plot, ‘Snowden’ is worth a watch for the lazy political mind, or if you want another reason to shake a fist at the United States.

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Arts & reviews

SKIPPY AND BEAGLE Skippy and Beagle met in a dusty Film Studies tute (because who goes to Film lectures?) back in 2014. The amount of times the pair have agreed on a film is about the same amount of times as you’ve used your mid-semester break to actually catch up on readings. Now, at the end of their degrees, they have realised that writing a Woroni column is the most use they will get out of their Minor, so they figure they might as well get their money’s worth.

Gone Girl on the Train Annabelle Klimt and Josh Begbie

Based on Paula Hawkins best-seller, the Girl on the Train follows the story of an alcoholic girl, Emily Blunt, on a train, as she attempts to piece her memories together, on a train, to explain the mysterious disappearance of another girl she sees from the train. B: Alright, before we get started I just wanted to say the trailer did such a good job of not giving anything away, so we’re gonna go to extra lengths to keep this thing spoiler free for y’all. S: On the topic of the trailer, I’m also going to give it a big thumbsup for being incredibly enticing. Drama. Sex. Kanye. All the makings of a good flick. And surprisingly, it lived up to my expectations. B: First things first, even from the trailer, I think most viewers would get a vibe that this movie is riding off the back of Gone Girl. Do you think that’s fair? S: Yes, it is a psychological thriller focused on women, but I just don’t like the comparison to Gone Girl. It is unfair to stereotype these films. You wouldn’t compare Se7en and Mystic River just because they both revolve around men. B: True, but I think it’s more than that. Both films are based

off books about seemingly perfect domestic houses that had a dark side. Both films were shot in slick blue, grey and green colours. Both films fed the audience information in a slow drip to keep us frantically thirsty for more. Would this film have been made if Gone Girl flopped?

the truth change on you so much. I also thought it was so interesting that we, as members of the audience, were placed in the shoes of the protagonist, Rachel (Blunt), as voyeurs to the action just like she was, watching from the train. It certainly makes for an interesting perspective.

S: Look, you’re probably right. Part of the allure of this film was its Gone Girl aesthetic, and I doubt director Tate Taylor would’ve given this similar style film a go if Gone Girl had flopped. But A Girl on the Train is different, and in a good way. It is less glamorous, less jumpy, and perhaps, more chillingly realistic.

B: What did you think of the performances?

B: One thing the films do share that I love is an unreliable narrator. This is part of what makes films like Fight Club and The Usual Suspects so enticing and re-watchable. A Girl on the Train is slightly different, as we are told pretty quickly that the protagonist is an alcoholic with memory issues, but the theme doesn’t run dry there. Maybe I’m too much of a sucker for it, considering that it’s a bit of a psychological thriller trope, but it’s such a clever and fun way to tell a story! S: No I definitely agree with you. Memory and storytelling is so important in this movie, and I think what keeps you engaged is having

S: Yeah, very strong all round!! My only issue was with Blunt’s portrayal of severe ‘alcoholism’. Perhaps this was a fault of the costuming department, because to me she still seemed incredibly put together and well-dressed. Chucking on some blotchy skin effects, weepy eyes, smeared eyeliner and chapped lips just didn’t sell it for me. She needed to look more dishevelled. Perhaps a hard task considering she is just so naturally stunning. B: Would we say she’s stunning? To be honest, I don’t love Emily Blunt. She was the worst part of Sicario, which was an otherwise awesome movie and I hold that against her. I thought the cast all did ‘dark and brooding’ very well. The only zest on the plate of emotions was the trusty Allison Janney, who plays ‘the investigating detective who can cut through the crap like your brand new shoes’. Not that I’m saying

we needed more varied emotions from the characters in the film, it is a ‘dark and broody’ story after all. Just don’t hold your breath for any comedic relief at the 55-minute mark. S: ALSO on a side note, for a lot of the movie, I spent time wondering where I knew Haley Bennett from, who plays Megan - the ‘gone-girl’ in this non-gone-girl flick. After a quick IMDB search, I realised why I must have really connected to her… she made her acting debut as ‘Cora’ in the all-time 2007 classic, Music and Lyrics, alongside one of my other favs, Hugh Grant!!! (In case you didn’t get the message in the last column, I froth Hugh Grant). B: Shut up. Look, this was actually a really good movie. Before I rate it I want to say that this rating is going to either go up or down after I watch this film again. If A Girl on the Train can excite me the second time round I’ll give it a 4, otherwise it will sit on a well-deserved 3.5 Beagles. Thank you for making me see it. S: Yeah, ya dickhead! :)))))) 4 Skippy’s out of 5.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Arts & reviews

Romance Done Right: The German Rom-Com Experience Caroline Hendy Wednesday marked a very exciting day for me. It was the first time I have ever watched a Romantic Comedy at the cinema, in a foreign country, in a foreign language. I started my exchange in Germany just over a month ago, and I’ve been itching to investigate the Rom-Com scene over here ever since. I finally settled on the movie ‘SMS für dich’, or ‘SMS for you’, based on the book of the same name by Sofie Cramer. Let me tell you, it was terrific. Now, I’m not sure whether that’s because German Rom-Coms are of a particularly high standard, or whether it’s because I’ve been starving myself of Rom-Com-y goodness, but in my opinion, it was Love Actually good. The whole experience began with some excellent cinema advertising. In one particularly memorable ad, a couple enter a bedroom kissing all hot-

and-heavy like. The woman starts to unzip the man’s pants, ready to give him some good old oral loving, when suddenly, a small furry animal pops its head out through the zipper and she reels back in surprise. The ad? “You wouldn’t expect animals to be here, so you shouldn’t have to expect animals to be in your gummy lollies.” A sexy ad for vegan gummy lollies. Who’da thunk. Onto SMS für dich itself. The Leading Lady™ (Karoline Herfurth) has an adorable fiancé and they’re super in love, but in the first two minutes he gets killed in a car accident. Jump forward and she’s been living in her parent’s barn for two years, mourning. She finally decides she’s going to go back into the ‘real world’, and moves in with her Sassy Best Friend™ (Nora Tschirner). She decides that the best

way for her to deal with her grief is to try talking to her ethereal fiancé, but that comes unnaturally to her. Instead, when she finds her old phone with his phone number in it, she decides to text him instead. Enter Future Love Interest™ (Friedrich Mücke). Future Love Interest is a journalist in an unhappy relationship, who accidentally breaks his phone in the process of annoying his girlfriend. Thus, he has to get a new phone, and with it comes a new number. No prizes for guessing which dead guy used to have said number. He reads all of Leading Lady’s texts, and uses the information in them to engineer a meeting, all the while never letting her know - a bit of unhealthy stalker-like behaviour that, awesomely, Leading Lady eventually calls him out on. You can likely guess the rest of the movie from there.

Yes, the movie has a few Rom-Com tropes, such as the Future Love Interest conveniently being a journalist. What really makes it stand out though, is the role of the grieving process. Instead of the dead fiancé just being conveniently out of the picture, the grieving process the Leading Lady has to go through is actually the most important part of the plot – more so than even the falling-in-love aspect. The result is a thoroughly heart-felt movie which traverses the full range of emotions from laugh-out-loud stitches to silent sobs (even for those like me who can only understand 60% of the quick German dialogue). I thoroughly recommend it. As yet, it doesn’t appear to be available in Australia, but if you’re ever in Germany you should definitely go see, it or any Rom-Com, if only for the ads.

The Queer Screen Film Fest comes to Canberra! Mary Waters There have been gay and lesbian film festivals in Sydney since 1978. Since 1993, however, Sydney’s LGBTIQ film festival has largely coincided with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and has been owned and operated by a community called Queer Screen, whose sole focus is queer film and screen culture. In recent years, the festival has grown to include special programs across Australia – making Queer Screen one of the only LGBTIQ film organisations across the globe to operate a national schedule of events throughout the year. A new film festival, the Queer Screen Film Fest, emerged in 2013, and is now a major event that delivers the latest LGBTIQ movies to screens during September and October. This year, on the 1st of October, the fourth Annual

Queer Film Festival ventured to Canberra.

ality, but whose characters just happen to be queer.”

Festival Director, Paul Struthers, says that this festival is incredibly important because of the “limited representation” of LGBTIQ people in mainstream film media, and it is for this reason that “all the films selected encompass themes and stories related to LGBTIQ people. Together these films represent and reflect the actual lived experiences of LGBTIQ people, people of diverse backgrounds.”

One of the films shown at the Canberra leg of the festival, Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, encapsulates Struthers’ sentiment. The film explores the case of the San Antonio Four where, in 1994, four Latina lesbian women were accused, tried and convicted of the sexual assault of two girls. The documentary intriguingly examines the stories surrounding the case, where the four women maintain their innocence and insist that the accusations against them were fabricated and born from homophobic prejudice and a phenomenon about covens, cults and child abuse. The film is riveting. It is layered with gripping cinematography, exploring a contentious trial that resulted in interrelated political and personal forces, that functioned to convict

Mr. Struthers says that there has been a “major” change in discourse since the festival began just three years ago, as “we are witness[ing] more films of diverse themes being made and played. We are playing less coming of age films, but showing more films in which the stories aren’t evolved around sexu-

those assumed guilty, but potentially flattened the innocent. It is an outstanding documentary that explores the stories of four women who maintain their innocence, and today, are far from free. It is an perfect example of the Queer Film Festival’s ability to show that stories about the LGBTIQ community do not have to focus solely on one’s sexuality. I think this is what makes the Queer Film Festival so special – it shows films with characters that are not solely portrayed because they are queer, but because they have a story that is worth telling. Mr. Struthers says that he has “hope” that queer issues will become more predominantly encapsulated in mainstream film. I would have to say that after attending in the Queer Film Festival, I hope so too.

ARTS & REVIEWS

ELUSIVE OF ALL EXPECTATION: An Interview with Kirklandd Tess Rooney

Canberra isn’t known for its rap scene. Yet. In recent years we have seen a change, with a few determined people carving a niche into our city. One of these people is rapper Kirklandd, the new kid on the block who is making steady headway in the Aussie rap world. At the moment he is kicking it in Canberra, and feels that the best is yet to come, saying, “Next year is going to be a huge year for Canberra… we have a huge range of artists now who are pushing through, like a new age kind of sound and we are starting to find our identity”. Kirklandd has certainly felt the beginnings of this push, performing at two of Canberra’s largest creative events: Art not Apart earlier this year, and just recently at Fashfest. “The numbers were huge… it had the live impact that I’ve wanted to have for a while, with live instruments, proper lighting and great sound… the impact was definitely there and the response was phenomenal.” Kirklandd, however, admits that he is still learning, and that he expects his music to evolve and change. He admits that part of this process is scary - not having a 100% clear view of what is happening next - but says he has a good idea of what kind of music he doesn’t want to make. He has made a point of moving away from what he calls ‘fuck bitches, get money rap’, passionately stating, “I think all of that shit is so contrived… it’s a terrible influence….” This resolve is clear throughout Kirklandd’s music, which revolves around his experiences as a young man. Talking about the best way to make genuine music, he says, “I keep myself in check when I write… it has to resonate with me… it has to be authentic to me as a person, and hiphop as a genre.”

Kirklandd’s most recent songs - We On and Visions - show his exploration as an artist, and he admits to me that they are ‘polar opposites’ because he “didn’t want to get into the trap of that being what I do… you get labelled, so I made an opposite which is more soulful and raw.” Kirklandd loves the experimental side of his art, mixing genres and instruments to create a unique blend of sounds. As a younger gent he grew up on blues and R&B, however, after discovering the world of hip-hop and rap through artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Kirklandd hasn’t looked back. He experiments further with mixing genres in his new track Rise, which he couldn’t tell me too much about just yet, outside of the promise of a combination of old school rap, live drums and a saxophone solo to top it all off. Rise, he feels, is his best track yet, and will really show the learning curve that he been on since 2014. “I have a long way to go,” he says, “I’m just trying to master my craft right now.” Kirklandd has come a long way in just a few years, and when thinking back to finishing high school he states with a laugh, “my only goal at the time was to rap for my cousin, that was the end goal of everything.” From here his music has grown, and he is workshopping his sound constantly. Kirklandd is heading interstate for a while, picking up some gigs in Melbourne, however, he plans to return home soon so stay tuned. To satisfy my own curiosity I ended our interview by asking him to sum up the burgeoning Canberra rap scene, he hesitated before thoughtfully responding, “elusive of all expectation.”

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

ARTS & REVIEWS

We’re Not Worried, We’re Just Having Fun Hayden Fritzlaff When four out of five Ball Park Music members walk off stage leaving Sam Cormack alone with his acoustic guitar, there’s a sense that he knows exactly how big an impact his band has had on the Triple J-listening concert goers of the early 2010s. ANU Bar on a Thursday night might not be the main stage at Splendour In The Grass, but it sure feels the same when the chorus to ‘It’s Nice To Be Alive’ kicks in. There was the group of high schoolers who were too young to buy tickets but who got in anyway and probably missed the whole gig because they were too busy hugging each other and dancing. Then there was the guy

standing at the back of the crowd in his own little world, singing the vocal harmonies instead of the melody. The band themselves are pure fire. Cuts from their latest record ‘Every Night The Same Dream’ sounded urgent. ‘Pariah’, a seven-odd minute daceable fuzzy mess, got pole position in the well-paced set list while bassist, Jennifer Boyce, and drummer, Daniel Hanson (aka the 1-2-3-4 guy from the ‘Nihilist Party Anthem’ film clip), kept the crowd buzzing all the way through. Sahara Beck, with her reserved yet commanding delivery was a pleasant surprise in the opening slot. “All

things good come with pain,” she sang on one number – it’s fair to say more good things are on the way from her. Second on the bill were The Creases. Their awkward stage presence and bland 1-4-1 chord progressions made them feel like a lame version of local heroes Capes. “We woke up at five this morning to drive here,” said the lead singer part way through their set. “Anyway, this song’s about taking acid.” Yeah man… inspiring stuff.

feel like a twisted reincarnation of Crowded House. Ball Park has a habit of writing songs that feel as though you’ve known them your whole life; it turns out I know all the words to ‘Everything is shit…’ and share it’s joyous pessimism with at least five hundred other people. I’m pretty sure Cormack understands that. “We’re gonna do an old song”, he said before launching into ‘Fence Sitter’. “It’s from 2012 though, so it’s not that old.”

Ball Park rightfully stole the show. Odes to modern-day cynicism like ‘Everything Is Shit Except My Friendship With You’, ‘Coming Down’ and ‘Sad Rude Future Dude’ made the band

Ball Park Music performed at ANU bar on Thursday 29/9/16.

Mike Parr: Foreign Looking. “It’s ART” Phoebe Hamra

“It’s ART” seems to be the answer to most of my carefully prepared questions to Elspeth Pitt, Assistant Curator at the National Gallery of Australia. Not just art, or even aauurrrt - it’s ART. For the largest solo exhibition of a living Australian artist - that took around two years to curate specifically for the NGA - it had better be. The significance of Mike Parr’s exhibition ‘Foreign Looking’ is unprecedented within the bounds of Australian art. It’s the oeuvre of an artist who pushed the boundaries and set new standards in both Australian and international performance art. However, Pitt comments that Parr is unfortunately much better regarded internationally than in Australia. Where’s that quintessential Australian jingoism when it comes to art? To exemplify his Australian influence, Parr’s performance artwork ‘Jackson Pollock the Female’ draws on the con-

troversy surrounding the 1973 purchase of Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles in order to criticise current Australian arts funding. Blue Poles has increased in value by 35000% (from $1.3 million to $350 million); a worthy investment in hindsight. Similarly, Parr made a political statement about the Australian government’s lack of action against climate change by burning millions of dollars worth of his art at the Sydney Biennale earlier this year. A video is included in the exhibition as a recent example of Parr’s performance art, and also as a reminder of the artist’s engagement with politics and society - or as a bid to remain relevant. The comprehensive exhibition flows conceptually in a quasi-chronological order, from Parr’s earliest performance work to his most recent statements. Criticisms that Parr’s work is egocentric, as a self-described ‘self portrait

project’, are dismissed by Pitt when we speak. She notes that Parr is really an “everyman” – however, the challenge that this exhibition poses to the audience contradicts that statement. According to Pitt, “Mike is a HARD artist, he expects a lot from his audience; as much as he expects from himself.” This is a somewhat alienating concept, from an artist who pushes his physical limits to breaking point. Parr forces his audience to dark places within themselves, as that is what he draws out from within himself. His interest in the emotional and psychological is one of the reasons he didn’t want any wall panels next to his works. He didn’t want to explain it. “But ART doesn’t need an explanation”, affirms Pitt. The titular piece of the exhibition ‘Foreign Looking’ is a performance combined with painted-over prints. Parr covers a series of prints in black

paint – either ‘completing’ his artwork or destroying it, depending which critic you ask. The intrinsic value of his art is immense and draws into question the financial responsibilities and motivations of artists. Mike Parr: Foreign Looking is a particularly confronting exhibition featuring self-mutilation and garish grotesque prints that shock the audience. Although Pitt argues the shock-factor is an unintentional effect of authentic work, I am not so convinced. In a world where all publicity is good publicity and ‘shock’ is repeatedly used to grab the audience’s attention, it’s hard to tell the authentic from the crowd-pleasing. We, the audience, are both appalled and enthralled. Decide for yourself. Mike Parr: Foreign Looking at the NGA until November 6th.

Arts & reviews

The Future of the School of Music— Andrew Podger’s report and ANU’s response Anthony Cotter

Last Tuesday the 4th October, Vice Chancellor Schmidt came to the School of Music to discuss ANU’s response to Andrew Podger’s extensive community consultation into the degree structure and operations of the school. Joining him was outgoing interim Head of School, Will Christie, and the incoming interim Head of School, Malcolm Gillies, a former student of the school and a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the ANU. Having no permanent Head of School since August 2015, the school has been in operational turmoil.

regular visits from top performers, both domestically and internationally. The second option is a somewhat scaled back version of the first, and would see a medium sized expansion of performance programs and staff, and a strong focus on related disciplines of music composition, technology and musicology. Everyone agreed that the first option was highly favoured, but in order to be implemented, an additional $800,000 per year will need to be obtained from sources outside the university - most likely coming from the ACT Government and various community organisations.

VC Schmidt presented a list of 26 recommendations for the future of the school, the core of which involved; ensuring the Head of School more autonomy from the College of Arts and Social Sciences; the abolition of the Personal Development Allowance (PDA); and a return to the employment of dedicated performance based teaching staff. Everyone in attendance agreed that the loss of teaching staff in favour of a PDA system - where performance students find their own instrument teacher privately and purchase individual lessons - had largely failed, and was a major influence in the mass exodus of students since 2013. Even More noticeable than the decline in funding and staff has been the decline in student enrolments. Having started my first year as a jazz trumpet player in 2012, I have witnessed this mass exodus first hand. In my first year there were roughly five or six trumpet players in the jazz stream, and a similar number in the classical stream. Today, I am the only trumpet player currently enrolled at the school. As I watched students leave the school at an alarming rate, I was not immune to give in to the temptation. In December 2012, I took a trip to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to audition for the Bachelor of Music program. As I sat down with other prospective students to take the required diagnostic test, I noticed that a large number of fellow ANU students were also in the

If achieved, this would see a return of the significant government contributions made to the school prior to 1998, which were paid in recognition of the community outreach of the school, the school’s contribution to creative arts across Canberra, and also as a leftover legacy of the school’s history as an independent autonomous institution before it was handed over to ANU in 1992. As commonwealth cluster funding is largely insufficient for music performance, declining subsidies from the government have, at present, been met by cross-subsidies from the university. Following the meeting on Tuesday, ACT Labor has pledged $250,000 in funding if they are re-elected on the 15th, and has promised to provide assistance in reaching out to community organisations for the remaining $550,000.

room. Naturally, those who leave the ANU School of Music seek enrolment at more attractive institutions around the country - but this is further exacerbating the issue in Canberra. Plus, there have not been enough new enrolments to replace the number of students who are graduating - enrolments were as low as 10 students last year and roughly 15 this year. Even with the best of intentions, it is not possible to offer new programs and courses, and separate streams for different areas of

specialisation, if there are insufficient student numbers. The biggest challenge, therefore, remains increasing the size of the student body - which cannot happen until the school regains at least some of its former reputation, or without significant time and investment.

In short, it seems that all concerned parties would like to see the school’s reputation rebuilt, a return to healthy student enrolments and a strong performance program - this will take many years to fully achieve, and largely depends on external factors. Only time will tell, but hopefully, the next generation of students will, one day, be proud to study at the ANU School of Music.

In Podger’s report he outlined two proposed options for the school. The first option includes an elite performance stream with advanced programs and

Photograph from the woroni archives

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Woroni Radio Playlists: Fear Brendan Keller-Tuberg Music’s relationship with fear has two halves. On one side, one of the best ways to cope with fears and anxieties is to exercise them from yourself through music. But at the same time, ‘scaring’ yourself through some daring, experimental and dark music (like a horror movie) is a cathartic thrill. This playlist splits between music dealing with real-life fears of their writers and provocative songs that revel in their disturbing or chilling atmospheres.

1. Private Execution – The Drones 2. Agoraphobia - Deerhunter 3. The Fever (Aye Aye) – Death Grips 4. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division 5. Really Doe – Danny Brown 6. God Alone – Altar of Plagues 7. Everything is Going to Hell – Teen Suicide 8. Come to Daddy – Aphex Twin 9. Dead Man’s Tetris – Flying Lotus 10. Blisters – Serpentwithfeet 11. Brought to the Water – Deafheaven 12. Monster – Kanye West 13. Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset – Modest Mouse 14. Peace Akhi – Ka 15. Rain Or Shine – Young Fathers 16. Give Me the Gun – American Football 17. Back Up – Clipping 18. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads 19. All Caps – Madvillain 20. Big Bird – Andrew Jackson Jihad

Radio

Helpful or Menace? Local Advice Syndicate Leaves Community Divided Grant Corbleuth A report by Marvin D.M. Anderson

A recent wave of coordinated advice has spread across the pages of Yahoo Answers, leaving users confused and upset about their direction in life. This spread of horrible advice appears to have stemmed from ‘Big Questions’, a Woroni Radio Show airing every Thursday at 5pm. Dubbed “the show where horrible people, give horrible answers, to horrible questions, on the horrible internet”, Big Questions’ three hosts approach a new theme each week with an enthusiasm that is in equal measures insightful and depressing. Penny, who has been using the site anonymously for several months, is cautiously optimistic about the educational power of the show, satating, “Their advice on a travel vs. house renovation dispute saved my marriage, but then they suggested I burn down my house? My husband says that’s a bad idea and now we’re fighting again.” Fellow Yahoo user and gardening enthusiast Darryl is unimpressed, saying, “Those answers are distractions from the real issues, like my gardenias! They’re in full bloom!” There have also been suggestions that the hosts have criminal ties. Detective Stumsky of the Wireless Crimes Division warns potential audience members of tuning in to the show. He instead recommends staying outdoors and admiring local gardenias while they’re in season, stating, “We’ve had many reports in

regards to the deplorable activities being undertaken by the Big Questions team. We have taken action and they have now been convicted of stealing multiple clicky pens from government offices. Are these really the people you want answering your questions online?” The hosts are currently being investigated for a laundry list of radio crimes, having been accused of everything from saying ‘ladies and gentlemen’ to a particularly ugly on-air sledging of the esteemed personalities Scotty and Nige. When approached for comment, their lawyer burst into tears, rocking back and forth on the ground while mumbling ‘leave Nige out of this’. The hosts were unavailable for comment at time of printing. They are believed to have cryogenically frozen themselves so they can give advice in the next millennia. They will have thawed by Thursday.

Big Questions Thursdays 5.00pm Woroni Radio Editor’s note: We have inspected Darryl’s gardenias and they are indeed in full bloom. Nicely done, Darryl.

LIFE & STYLE

The ANU Alumni Series

Ten Questions with Anne GallagheR AO International lawyer and United Nations Adviser Areti Metuamate Our third feature profile in this series is on lawyer Anne Gallagher, who is widely recognized as the global expert on international law of human trafficking. Now one of ANU’s most distinguished alumni, Gallagher has received numerous accolades for her work, including ANU Alumnus of the Year, which included over a decade in the United Nations. While she has a high profile in Australia and abroad, few people know that her legal career kicked off at ANU when she completed her master’s degree and became a lecturer in international law. 1. From where did you come and why did you choose/get sent to ANU? I had studied Arts/Law at Macquarie and wanted to do international law more than anything else. ANU was the only place in Australia with a serious postgraduate international law program. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when they offered me a place. 2. What did you love and hate the most about Canberra? I loved the uni more than anything. I loved living in Canberra - very quiet especially compared to my life back in Sydney, but somehow it didn’t seem to matter, we made our own fun. 3. What was your go-to meal while you were an ANU student? I lived at the old Graduate House (on the corner of Barry Drive and Northbourne) with lots of international students and we’d often cook for each other. My specialty was spicy veggie curry for less than $1 per person, washed down by a rugged shiraz that, if my memory is correct, came in one of those jumbo foil bags. 4. What was the biggest political issue affecting you and your mates when you were at ANU and what were your views on that issue? Student fees came in while I was at ANU – I hadn’t had to pay anything for my first two degrees and felt selfish complaining on my own behalf. But even back then, I had a sense that this was the first step towards US-style

commodification of higher education (which ended up being true) and that worried me a lot. Internationally, the big issue was apartheid. Nelson Mandela was in jail with no prospect of being released and the political climate in South Africa was horribly bleak. One of my friends from Graduate House was a member of the Pan-Africanist Congress (which split off from the ANC) and had been accepted into Australia as a political refugee. He introduced me to the Australia-based anti-apartheid movement. I never imagined that in just a few short years I’d be working at the UN while we oversaw free and fair elections in South Africa. 5. Did you have many friends and do you keep in touch with any of them? I made lots of friends while a student at ANU. I kept in touch with some of the international students and even managed to visit a few in Africa, Asia and the US later on, while I was traveling for the UN. 6. If you had your time over again, would you still come to ANU and study what you did? Absolutely! I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. I look back on the road I’ve travelled and realize that so much of what has happened to me in my life – my career, my family – can be traced back to that one decision to come to

Canberra and study international law at the ANU. 7. For someone following in your footsteps about to start at ANU, what advice would you give them? Develop a taste for true intellectual freedom, a taste for non-conformity. Be suspicious of dogma, distrustful of blind certainty, accepting of doubt and tolerant of failure. You don’t need safe spaces. Have the intellectual courage to move outside of the circle of people who you feel most comfortable with. They will never teach you as much as those who challenge your values and opinions. In other words, seize every opportunity to learn - not what to think, but how to think. 8. If the Vice Chancellor called you up today and asked you to tell him one thing you think he should do to change/improve the ANU, what would it be? If he ever asked for my opinion I’d be encouraging him to do everything in his power to preserve ANU as a place of learning - a place where talented, hardworking people can get the very best education in the world. And that means prioritizing students and those who teach them. We pay lip service to the importance of teaching but the reward system - funding, prestige and advancement - doesn’t really reflect that commitment.

9. When you think of amazing lawyers in Australia, who is the one person you most admire and why? This is such a hard question. Should I choose Michael Kirby, for his magnificent mastery of the law as a tool for social and political change both within and outside Australia? Or ANU’s own Hilary Charlesworth, whose many and varied contributions to international law I couldn’t begin to list? Maybe Elizabeth Evatt, first Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia and superstar of the UN’s human rights system? Or her dad, Doc Evatt, one of the architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? In the end though, it’s hard to go past two of my favourite ex-lawyers: Craig Reucassel of the Chaser, who can always make me laugh, and the ABC’s Waleed Aly, who always makes me think. 10. The UN is currently in the process of selecting a new Secretary General. Any views on the process? And do you have a preferred candidate? I wrote a piece in the Spectator about the need for a decent, competent Secretary-General at the helm of the one body that exists to advance our shared interests. The era of great Secretaries-General is probably over: we’re not going to get a hero but I really hope we don’t get a dud. I’m not a fan of Kevin Rudd’s nomination. I don’t think he’s up to the job. Helen Clark, New Zealand’s former PM, might be better. She has a depth and breadth of political expertise experience that will be invaluable in navigating the byzantine, cut-throat world the Secretary-General inhabits. The fact that she is a woman should be completely immaterial. Of course it would be great to see more women working in at the top of international diplomacy. But quotas and so-called positive discrimination belong, if anywhere, at the starting gate, not the finishing line.

LIFE & STYLE

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Bullies and new beginnings Matthew Mottola

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of Homophobia, Suicidal Thoughts

Dear Mr Bully, You are a schoolyard sadist. Vile. Pervasive. Insidious. Toxic. Poisonous. Vindictive.

Dear Mr Bully, It’s been a long time, how have you been? I just wanted to tell you a few things, to set things straight. You might want to apologise, but don’t bother, it’s too late. *** Dear Mr Bully, I haven’t forgotten. I can’t forget. Sitting in my room and feeling my heart being crushed. Lying on my bed, looking at my reflection in the mirror, with hatred and disgust. I thought it wouldn’t get better. That this was all life had to offer. Depression has a cold icy grip that drags you down into your own virtual prison. It will trap you, you may break free out of its walls, or you may not. *** Dear Mr Bully, Stick and stones may break my bones, but your words are just as hurtful. I can still see you. Your words still echo in my ears. I hear faggot, and gay. Every time I hear that, I remember. I think of you. I remember, “You will amount to nothing, faggot. You are a nobody.” Well thank you for pointing out my biggest insecurity, as if it was something I didn’t realise. As if it was something that I never anxiously deliberated over every single day. Thank you for crushing me, every single day. “It’s just a joke, mate.” Every joke wears off eventually, so why could I not escape you?

***

Dear Mr Bully, Only my mother knows that I used to cry myself to sleep. But not even she knew that you pushed me to drugs. My body was poisoned by countless anti-depressants and mood-stabilizers. Because of you, I was no longer in control. This was when I no longer hated you. I hated myself. Everything was grey, dark, hopeless. I was an empty husk of a human being. *** Dear Mr Bully, The war inside of me raged on. Each day was the same. Class. Recess. Alone. Class. Lunch. Crying. The torment never ended. It never stopped. I ran away. Some nights I could barely sleep. Other nights, I wouldn’t sleep at all. Alone, in my thoughts… I often considered how easy it would be to end it all. Like blowing out a candle with a gentle breeze, my soul could have been taken away with the wind. On the train platform. In the bathroom. At the pier. On the bridge. I used to hit things. Break things. I was already hurting. I was already aching. I was ready to end it. So why the hell not? I used to ask, “Why?” Why me? Why is this happening? Why do I feel like this? Why was it that everything hurt, and yet I felt so numb? No one had the right to look me in the eyes and say, “It gets better.” It wasn’t getting better. It was never going to get better. Life offered me nothing. I felt nothing. My razor was my only friend. He would make me feel alive again. I would cry, as I destroyed my body, but the tears would be washed away by a ruby red river.

Dear Mr Bully, I am not your punching bag. I am not your release. I am not something that you can walk all over. I am no longer drowning in the cold, icy depths of depression. I am no longer paralysed with anxiety, unable to make friends. I have stopped building walls, and trapping myself in my own prison. I am no longer weak. I am strong. And I am never, ever, going back to that place. I owe you nothing, but I thank you for everything. You cast me to the darkest part of my mind, and I dragged my way back. You drove me out of my own school, but I managed to create a life at a new one. For years, you made me feel worthless. I believed that I would amount to nothing. I believed that I would never have friends. But walking those unfamiliar halls, on my first day, in my new school, I thought: “Freedom. I’ve finally been liberated.” Someone walked up to me. He was tall, well-built, sleeves rolled up, buzz cut. My heart raced, I felt sick. I hadn’t escaped. I could never escape. He opened his mouth, I flinched and he said, “Hi, mate.” I can’t express how it felt. Someone treating me like a human. Like I deserved to be treated. And all he had said was, “Hi, mate.”

Dear Mr Bully, Because of you I have learnt how to love. How to love other people, and more importantly, how to love myself. I am grateful for every day that I wake up, and for every day that the sun shines. I am grateful for my family who I didn’t leave behind, and for my new friends who I have come to meet. It did get better. The world became colourful again. My heart didn’t know how to love. I built walls and barriers, until I didn’t even love myself. But it got better. *** Dear Mr Bully, You failed, because I am not what you tried to make me. I am a testimony to what you could not achieve. I am strong. I am worth something. I have friends. And I will be successful. But I wonder, did you ever feel anything? Regret? Remorse? Pity? Did you ever feel better about yourself? Stronger? Manlier? Respectable? I believe everything happens for a reason. Perhaps you might think it foolish, but when you’ve been where I’ve been, perhaps, when you need a reason to live, you might believe it too. I also believe in swings and roundabouts. Karma is one cold bitch, but no one should be tormented as I was. So dear Mr Bully, this will be the last time you hear from me. It is true, however, that I was never your biggest victim. Because, dear Mr Bully, your biggest victim will always be you.

LIFE & STYLE

Development from the Roots Rosie Heselev

Many of you, over the past few months, may have been subjected to my mediocre banter in Union Court, as I attempted to get you to buy a piece of clothing to help Nepali women. I apologise for my poor form, but hopefully this article will convince you to be that tiny bit late to your lecture next time, and stop by to say hello.

that she wished to one day provide scholarships to 15,000 of Nepal’s most vulnerable girls. She also hopes to be able to purchase land, where she can build a coffee plantation and a series of houses for girls to live and work, with a self-sustainable income and a potential eco-tourism business. So what can we at the ANU do to help? In development, we must listen and facilitate. We must put the people who understand and have the local knowledge first. We must not go to a place and assert ourselves, based on the power of our nationality, or our university degrees. We must use our privilege to enable locally engineered change, whether it be by giving up a few lattes a week or spreading the word of injustice as far as we can. We can offer our skills too – but may only help after a discussion, dialogue and the granting of consent.

The Op Shop(s) for Women were raising funds for the grassroots organisation, Change Action Nepal, a showcase of local women, helping local women. The main woman behind the scenes, Indira Ghale, is a picture of strength and defiance, working tirelessly to improve the lives of women and children throughout Nepal. This organisation is a testimony to the change that can happen from within, by engaging women of developing countries to own their own path to safety, security and identity, on their own terms. Change Action Nepal is a small, yet important organisation because it can reach places and people that others cannot. Through local connections and feminist networks, Indira and her network can access information that slips through Western imported channels of development. For example, during the 2015 earthquake, she was the first to access areas unreached by international organisations due to her local knowledge of vulnerable areas. Through her local engagement with Hindu caste systems, she is able to identify which people need the most help, the underlying power structures within seemingly homogenous communities, and how best to positively impact them, with cultural sensitivity. Indira’s work is various; she reaches out her arms and helps people wherever she finds them. Her main project is the development a safehouse for victims of gender-based violence, which currently houses seven girls with varying stories, as well as a divorced, homeless Aunty (Indira’s sister who fled her husband’s family and her two young kids). The girls come from various parts of Nepal, and often arrive at the home through contact with a network of feminists, who are well versed in Indira’s work. The girls are inspirations. One girl for example, who shall remain nameless for confidentiality reasons, was forced

Right now CAN relies heavily on unsustainable, discontinuous sources of funding that makes every day uncertain. Relying on a few Op Shop sales at a Canberra university, for example, is not nearly enough to sustain Indira’s work and future goals. She needs funding, awareness and help – and that’s where we can come in. Every little bit counts. The fight for equality is everywhere. Do not be complacent in it – we can be the generation to get there, if we each just do the best we can. Pick something that you are passionate about, use the resources you have, and make something change.

Pictured: INDIRA GHALE to work as a child maid after her father died and her mother left her. She remained in one home until the physical, verbal and sexual abuse became too much, and she had to escape to another. Indira heard about her situation and brought her to live at the safe house. Another resident of the safehouse was a victim of continual sexual abuse from her grandfather, from the time she was seven. But these girls are not defined by their experiences. They are not voiceless victims, but are working to be empowered to change the systems that created their circumstances. It’s truly inspirational to have witnessed the spread of this attitude, first-hand, because of Indira’s work.

Indira’s central focus is the provision of education – she believes education is the key to change, gender equity and the eradication of the caste system. While she cannot house everyone, she provides scholarships to the vulnerable - mostly girls, but also boys - experiencing caste based discrimination. Recently she provided 32 scholarships to girls in the Shindapalchok – the largest, poorest and most vulnerable region in Nepal. It was also, horribly, the most affected area by the 2015 earthquake. When I asked her what her dream was for the organisation, she responded

For more information, to donate or express interest in volunteering/fundraising, visit www. changeactionnepal.com or email me at rheselev@gmail.com.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

LIFE & STYLE

To bra or not to bra, that is the question Maddie Kibria I love my bras. “Blessed” with fabulous, voluptuous D-cups, I never thought that not wearing a bra was an option. Clothes that weren’t too revealing, without plunging necklines or buttons that were sure to pop open, were the only things I was certain I could wear. As someone who did not know of a life where I could even step out of the house without a bra, I was outraged, dumbfounded, and outright appalled when my best friend barged into my room one day and said, “Maddie! Promise me you will never wear a bra again!” I simply told her to get out and never utter those words in my presence again. But she was relentless - insisting that I would get breast cancer if I always wore a bra, that my breasts would lose shape and sag by the time I was 25, and that bras were cutting off the much needed blood circulation to my two perky mates. Living in a conservative Muslim society, where everyone scrutinizes your body and outfit the moment you walk out the door, going braless seemed neither feasible, nor socially acceptable. You wouldn’t be caught dead showing even the slightest bit of cleavage, side-boob or the hint of a bra strap, let alone wearing anything without a bra. This was the life I knew and I was fine with it until I came here. Relieved that I now no longer live under the watchful eyes of judgmental, prudish on-lookers, I can wear whatever I like, with or without a bra. I can buy whatever I like, and then run off to my friends to rave about my new super booby dress. How I dress and whether or not I wear a bra is now my choice, not the choice of those around me. Not wearing a bra isn’t just a mundane act for me - it’s an expression of freedom. Free from the conventions I was drowning in, free to do what makes me comfortable, free to tell my boyfriend - now ex-boyfriend - that he’s not my father and doesn’t dictate my appearance. I no longer spend time trying to hide my body, as if I’ve committed some great sin against mankind. I don’t live trying to fit people’s shallow criteria anymore. My best friend looked at me last week and noticed I wasn’t wearing a bra. She asked me, just to double check, smirked, and then reminded me of

the tirade of abuse I threw at her that day, for merely suggesting that I live “braless”. I laughed and said, “You were right though. I feel fucking great.” Emily Campbell My fashion sense was recently described as comfortable yet chic. I am yet to figure out if having the word comfortable in there is a compliment or not, but I’m going to own it for now. Not wearing a bra is, more often than not, part of that ‘comfortable’ style. Work, presentations, a night out, anywhere! I usually get comments from my friends when I’m not wearing a bra, though I suspect they can’t tell most of the time. I think my mum sees it as some sort of feminist statement, and my best friend just thinks I’m lazy. Honestly, I’m just way more comfortable without one, and I’m hoping we are moving towards a time where we can all make these choices based on what makes us comfortable, not on what we are made to feel is normal. I’d like to live in a world where my one rule (no white or sheer tops without a bra) isn’t needed. Catherine Claessens I’ll begin with a disclaimer: I am a rather small woman; pixie-sized in height and width, a 12a around the chest area. I’ve never known what it is to be ‘big’ in my whole life, and have thus never known the inconveniences (and fabulosity) that can come with big boobs - mine are more like semi-spherical chicken fillets. Bras have become somewhat useless as, while I do possess certifiable boobs™, they’ve never required restraining. Until the age of 21 I never questioned wearing a bra - it’s the given undergarment every femme-identifying person wears, yeah? They give you two lovely smooth pebble-shaped mounds, and boom! You’re now a woman™. In 2013, however, I started meeting women who’d stopped wearing bras altogether. Everyone seems to still freak out a bit at the sight of lady nipples - and I did too, before I tentatively hopped on the bandwagon. Since then my bras are largely gathering dust. I go braless whenever my clothing is opaque and I have room to give no fucks about people’s opinions. Nothing feels freer, lighter, gentler, and more sensual than Boobs with Freedom. Braless is best!

Bronte Wilson

Nathanael Rizzo

I was older than sixteen the first time I left my room braless. I grew up with step-siblings, half-siblings and a stepdad. I was too nervous and too unsure of myself - with my body and my boobs - to take my bra off, so except for when it was time to sleep, my bra was always firmly clasped. They weren’t pretty and perky, like everything I had been shown. Even then, I had big boobs, with big nipples, that didn’t hold themselves up on their own accord. Nobody could see them unless held up firmly in a bra.

The question of ‘when it is appropriate to go bra-less’ has never really been about social context or values, but rather, personal preference and comfort.

It was only in the middle of the night, when walking downstairs to the kitchen that I allowed myself to go without a bra - I had to hold them as I stepped down the stairs. One night, when I cupped my right boob, I felt a lump. A lump I knew didn’t belong there. I was petrified, and thought the worse; my dad had died of breast cancer. I bounded into my parent’s bedroom, oversized boobs hitting my chin and showed my mother. We went to the GP the very next day. What followed was appointment after appointment, and me pulling my shirt over my head and flopping out my boobs time and time again. I had no choice but to expose them to my GP, the ultrasound technician and breast oncologist. It wasn’t cancer, but it was growing fast. After six months of having my tiny lump grow to the size of a mandarin I got it taken out. Inevitably, a team of doctors, once again, all examined my boobs and I was left with a tiny scar on my right nipple. My boobs aren’t perfect, they don’t look little and perky in tiny bralettes, but they’ve been poked and prodded by so many strangers now that I’ve realised they are mine to show whoever and however I see fit. It’s my choice to go braless, and I will damn well choose to do so. They are mine. I will continue to love and feel them. All women should.

As I guy, I could do the male equivalent - free-balling - but I’m personally not comfortable with people seeing my junk as I ride around campus, grab a coffee from Grounds, or speak in a tutorial. But that’s just me. If you feel more comfortable without a bra and are happy with how you look and feel, then you should rock the bra-less look whenever and wherever you want. No one should be able to tell you otherwise. We should be empowering people of every gender to dress how they want, when and where they want. So for me the bra-less look is an absolute ‘yay’ in lectures and tutorial presentations, and ‘always’ at Mooseheads D-floor – so long as you’re comfortable with it. Anonymous I have always been jealous of girls who can go bra-less. I see it as a luxury because in my experience, when you have big boobs, bra-less doesn’t seem like an option. My big boobs mean that I just don’t want to be seen without a bra. Although I am often complimented on my boobs, the bra is the thing that makes them look nice. In reality, without a bra, they are unsupported, they sit in different directions, and I inevitably become self-conscious. So bra straps will forever ruin my nice tops and dresses, and strapless clothing will never be seen in my wardrobe, because in my case even strapless bras can’t always do the job. I wish I could go bra-less in public, and embrace the ability to do so like so many other women… but I just can’t.

Life & style

It’s Not Milan - Fashfest and the fashion world Casley Rowan “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street – fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening around us.” – Coco Chanel. For years, I have loved the idea of being ‘into fashion’. I’ve been through all the stages; the Piping Hot at Kmart collection that was a must for tweens in 2008; the edging on edgy Dangerfield days where you layered kooky tights with Converse; and the Op shopping stage where my entire wardrobe consisted of eclectic $4 items. I begged for that plated Supré headband that all the girls in my year level seemed to have an abundant supply of, and I saved for that pair of Bardot jeans with the semi circles on the pockets for months. I embraced each trend as it came and went, with a yearly wardrobe cleanout showcasing the ghosts of fashions past. My most memorable fashion moment, however, was shopping for my Year 10 formal dress. The girls had created the obligatory Facebook page, pre-posting their purchases as to avoid the dreaded double up, and as each screenshot and mirror selfie got added, I remember distinctly judging them on quality, brand, price, cut, shape – how flattering they were on each girl’s particular body type. When it came to choosing my own dress, I dragged my Mum past the classic 16-year-old brands I knew and loved, to the Sass and Bide section of Melbourne Bourke Street Myer. Everything was crisp and white and clean, and the clothes were draped elegantly over the black velvet hangers, each spaced a certain consistent distance apart. The first dress I tried I fell madly in love with – I came out of the changing room, wearing the matching $800 shoes that the shopkeeper told me were “soooo Beyoncé at the Met Gala”, and I could feel the people passing by looking at me. I will not deny that I felt on top of the world. I loved how this dress, with a price tag that I had never before encountered, made me feel – powerful, feminine, mature. It was on sale, so I pooled my savings, took a loan from Mum and made my first monumental designer purchase. The shop assistant that sold me that dress, which I still wear over three years later, also stuck in my mind. Her hair was highlighted to perfection, she wore a flowing black skirt coupled with a masculine leather jacket, laced ankle boots and some layered gold necklac-

es. She was the epitome of fashion to me and as she chatted to another lady, and I remember her genuine passion and excitement when she described the new Jimmy Choo heels that her next pay cheque would go towards - I said to my mum, “I can’t believe how happy fashion makes people like her”. My mother, of course, called them shallow and told me to spend money on experiences rather than things, but in the fashion world, the experiences and the things are so intertwined that it has become very difficult to separate one from the other. When we think of runway shows, do we think of the specific beauty of garment number three, or the iridescent colours of the tote bag being held by the model who closed the show? Or do we rather think, not of each piece individually, but the experience of a runway show as a whole? It starts outside usually, on the streets of a city like Milan, Paris, New York or London, when the models in their street style begin to arrive. It’s hectic; they may have just walked for Givenchy and now need to make the quick change to Chanel. Hair and makeup changes happen in a whirl, millions of dollars of haute couture are placed delicately onto these svelte, angel-like figures, to be showcased on the runway for approximately 20 seconds, before each disappears again backstage. While this goes on, the who’s who of this fashion sub-universe take their seats, with their popularity and influence ranking them row by row. It is estimated that when one factors in roles such as design, merchandise, distribution, marketing, retailing, advertising, communications, publishing

and consulting, the fashion industry employs over 4 million people globally. To put it in perspective, in 2013 the GDP of the entire United Kingdom was 2.678 trillion USD (according to the World Bank), and at the same time, the total value of the global textiles, apparel and luxury goods market (also known as the fashion industry) was 3.049 trillion USD. I’m not writing to discuss the negatives of the industry, as I am well aware of them and believe strongly in the importance of fair trade and labour laws, as well as fostering positive body image and the detriments of a materialistic and consumption-obsessed society. That is a debate I will not delve into in this particular discussion, as it is undeniable that fashion shapes our daily lives, influences our economies and gives us a universal platform of expression. This industry fuels economies the world over and brings people together in a way that no other industry does. ‘Fashion Week’ is no longer just one week of the year where this industry takes the spotlight – in fact, the ‘Big 4’ cities of New York, London, Milan and Paris have a continuous stream of shows that last from January to October. The fashion scene in the 21st century has evolved with the expanding nature of globalisation to include other fashion hubs, with Berlin, Los Angeles, Madrid, Rome, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo hosting notable Fashion Weeks. In Australia, the Melbourne Fashion Week has followed the trend, and even our nation’s capital has undertaken a cultural advancement in the form of Fashfest. Fashfest is Canberra’s very own ‘Fashion Week’ – a three-day event hosting two shows a night for three nights. I

was lucky enough to be sent to Show One on Friday, as part of the Woroni media team, and while it may not have been Milan or Paris, the show featured classic Australian brands like Country Road, Seed, Cue, Veronika Maine, Decjuba, Aquila and Saba. These collections, particularly those of Country Road and Seed, worked effortlessly together to paint the picture of an Australian Summer – there was a mix of bohemian prints and minimalistic cuts, and the use of white lace dresses and leather sandals created a very ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ kind of vibe, both being among my favourite pieces of the collection. Of course, runway shows are not just about the fashions on the runway, as what the spectators are wearing can be just as important. Black heels with wrap around ankle straps were in abundance off the runway, while leather man bags made multiple appearances on the male models. The MC made particular reference to the importance of “fitting the right model to the right outfit”, making the point that the show is as much about creating believable and genuine expression as it is about showcasing the fabrics. Veronika Maine in particular utilised the most diverse range of models, with a variety of ages and body types showcasing looks very appropriate to the Canberra professional market. So, my final question is - can we really call fashion merely an industry? I would argue that it, in fact, constitutes the very core of human expression. Not everyone can be an artist, a musician, a sportsman, a writer or an academic – not everyone has found a niche in which to express themselves and say something about the world. But every single one of us has to get up in the morning and put something on our bodies. Whether you are Kate Moss or a Maasai tribesperson, or indeed if you are 14-year-old me proudly donning the pink Supré tote, each of the 7.4 billion of us make conscious decisions about what we wear, what that choice will say to those around us, and how comfortable it will make us. Clothing can indicate social status, can help us to rebel or to conform, and can enable us to try on new versions of ourselves – and ultimately, the trends that we know and love start somewhere on a runway half the world away.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

Life & Style

(Not) Breaking out of the Norm Reza Mazumder When I attended the second night of Fashfest - Canberra’s largest fashion show that ran from September 29th to October the 30th - I clearly stood out. It was probably because I was wearing a white Andrew Crews SS16 crop top with black tights under high waisted, gold satin, Vfiles Sport Plus bell-bottom shorts - the colours stood out amongst a largely black, grey and occasional non-shade colour crowd.

their female employees to come to work schmick and spiffy in nicely fitted female suit pieces. ‘Female’ suit pieces. There is no denying that the shape, fit and skin exposure in suits designed for females differs from that of males. Feminine suit pieces are shapely, and cut in specific ways to enhance an ‘hour-glass line.’ Often the collar line is low-cut so as to draw attention to the ‘curve’ of the woman’s body.

“I love your style. I wish more guys dressed like that”, a young woman sitting next to me in the media booth said to me as we waited for the show to begin.

Braddon Tailors dressed all their male models in traditional suits that made them look like they were suave, while all the females were dressed in suit pieces that made them look sultry. This is not to say there is something inherently wrong with this…

What had she meant by wishing ‘more guys dressed like me’? Did she want more men to wear high waisted shorts, tights and crop tops? Was she talking about my hair - straightened and half tucked, half long fringe and screaming androgyny? Androgyny might have actually been it. I did ask her what she meant by style. She’d replied, “You know. Masc but fem.”

One of my favourite stylings from the finale night was a model who strutted the stage in only a blazer, high heels, long slicked back hair and red lipstick. I thought she looked phenomenal and full of power. At the same time, however, I actually found it quite… normal. Just a bit boring. Lazy. Having women wear blazers with no shirts and pants, or no pants with high heels, is what Canberra’s fashion industry idealises for a ‘working woman’. The problem is that ‘sexy and sultry’ is what mainstream fashion almost exclusively provides for women. To the smaller sect of men’s fashion, it offers ‘suave and sophistication’.

Besides being an abbreviation for ‘masculine but feminine’, I suspected the term might have meant more than just a compliment. When you looked out from our media stage and into the crowd, you could see rows of well-dressed people. Welldressed and, by and large, conventional. Normative. Women wore dresses, or shapely blouses and slim pants. Men wore button down dress shirts, blazers, suit pants and jeans.

Fashion spaces like Canberra are stuck in traditional conceptions of ‘sexuality’ as inherently a feminine form of expression. They do not break out of the box of conservative Western society’s notions of socially acceptable dress codes, and they do not encourage all genders to experiment with clothing irrespective of gendered labels.

People tend to associate androgynous looks to be the norm for high fashion shows of London, Milan, New York and Seoul. Yet androgyny itself is not considered ‘normal’. Androgyny, while serving to be far beyond simple fashion sense, is one of many concepts breaking the boundaries of the binary classifications of identity still prevalent in our 21st century. It blurs the line between ‘male’ and ‘female’ and instead, represents a fluidity - almost a harmony - within today’s gender binary. Fashfest, while a night of good spirit for the cause of good fashion, did not break boundaries. Instead, it adhered to the trend amongst most fashion industries to cast models based on normative (and problematic) conceptions of gender and sexuality.

In a contemporary global society, where youth are increasingly embracing notions of fluidity in gender and sexual identity, Canberra’s fashion industry - or at least Fashfest - to its own detriment, seems lax on keeping up to trend with a modern fashion scene. Canberra’s fashion industry is akin to most fashion markets; it caters more for women than it does for men. Plus, it uses female models for what it assumes, or even deems exclusively to be ‘feminine’.

The most notable example of this was in the finale showcases of Braddon Tailors. You might think that having women model suits would suggest a certain breaking of gender boundaries - except, it doesn’t quite. Women have been wearing suits for decades now, with some companies even preferring

Images from Reza

Life & Style

Sonder

Doing You

Sonder is defined as the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own - populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness. In a series of interviews, Arts student, Georgia Leak, aims to explore the lives of the colourful characters that call the ANU home.

Phoebe is a first year PPE / Art History and Curatorship student. They say ‘write what you know’, so as an Explorer and Adventurer of all things pertaining to sexuality and a control freak looking to take risks, she’s decided to write this column. She will be discussing Sex from a different angle in each Edition.

Interview with ANUSA Education Officer, James Connolly

Sex and the Secret City

Georgia Leak With 72 chairs scattered throughout Union Court last Wednesday, ANUSA Education Officer, James Connolly, poignantly drew our attention to the proposed cuts to the Additional Support for Students with Disability (ASSD), which would see the number of students receiving funding at the ANU drop from 72 to just three. I caught up with James following his presentation to discuss what the proposed cuts would mean for the ANU, and how students can help prevent them. According to James, the ASSD is “the component of the Higher Education Disability Support Program that provides funding to eligible higher education providers, to assist with the costs incurred in providing educational support/equipment to students with disability.” In the Federal Government’s final report of the ‘Evaluation of Disability Program’, an increase of the eligibility threshold from the current $500 per student to $3000 was highly recommended accordingly, an increase of this scale would render 75% of previously supported students unsupported. As James pointed out, “This issue goes to the heart of education accessibility. If the government denies students with disabilities the opportunity to enjoy a quality education as a cost-saving measure, then what does that say about the priorities of our nation?” Although the ANU acknowledges the importance of growing the program, it relies on adequate funding from the Federal Government to continue giving all students, from all walks of life, the education they deserve. In 2015 alone, the ANU had 353 students who had costs associated with their educational support - including exam invigilation, participation assistants, note takers, and assistive technology training – only 72 of whom, were able to claim such costs. The proposed increase in the claimable threshold would decrease this number to just three. Currently, ANUSA’s campaign to preserve the ASSD is being

run in addition to a campaign to preserve The Higher Education Participation Program, which supports and enables students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend university. “The Federal Government cut funding by $152 million this year, which will amount to a 40% cut by 20192020. ANUSA also calls on the Federal Government to see those cuts reversed.” James, along with ANUSA, have been working to garner support for their campaign through a series of petitions that will be compiled and submitted to the Secretariat of the House of Representatives Petitions Committee, necessitating a formal response from the Minister for Education. James has also sought assistance from those the changes would affect most, to spread awareness of the detrimental effects of the proposed cuts. “Throughout this campaign I’ve been privileged to have students go on camera to discuss why these support services matter. I will continue to share those stories so long as students are willing to share them, keeping the issue in the public’s consciousness as long as cutting the program is a live option.” In a world where high quality education should be a right, rather than a privilege, it is imperative for all students to take a stance against government cuts and show their support for this worthy cause. There are two petitions currently in circulation that you can sign; a physical petition that must be signed in person at the ANUSA office, as well as a Change. org petition that can be signed at the following link: https://www. change.org/p/senator-simon-birmingham-protect-higher-education-equity-funding-by-restoring-heppp-funding-and-protecting-assd. If students are directly affected by these recommended cuts they can contact James at sa.education@anu.edu.au with any questions they have, and he will endeavour to assist them in getting involved.

Pheobe Hamra There are only three reasons to ever have sex outside, or in a car. 1. You still live with your parents and literally don’t have any other choice. 2. You just can’t wait to get home and actually do it somewhere comfortable. 3. You’re chasing the thrill of getting caught with your pants down. Considering that ‘sex on campus’ has been done - Edward Bloom beat me to the punch - I’ve compiled a collection of places and stories of outdoor sex around Canberra. Remember, sex in your car or in public is not technically illegal… unless you’re caught - indecent exposure and offensive behaviour are illegal, so be discreet. If you’re chasing that thrill and enjoy a side of irony with your orgasm, then outside Parliament House is the spot for you. James, a road head enthusiast, told me that, “One time Tony Abbot walked past. He didn’t see us, but knowing we were in his conservative Christian presence only made it hotter… just remember to keep your head down when the AFP roll past.” The High Court is another of James’ hot head spots. Ironic again that he should celebrate gay sex at the very place where ACT’s short-lived marriage equality dream came crashing down. James ran me through the details, saying, “One time we were in the back of the car and this other car pulled up behind us with its headlights on. We finished. But when we drove away they followed us so we hid in this alley until they passed. I think it was security or something.”

Scary. He also recounted, “Once I was giving road head and I didn’t feel like swallowing, so I spat it out the window. It splattered on the rear window.” Yeah… perhaps, James isn’t the best role model when it comes to public sex. If you’re a little shy to test the waters at a unique location, about halfway up the road to Black Mountain lies the graveyard of a cubicle block where you’re sure not to be the only rocking car. There are also the alleys between the Sydney and Melbourne buildings - located near Mr. Wolf and Moose, for your convenience. But perhaps that’s a little too trashy for you (there’s literally trash everywhere in those lanes). Or maybe you just can’t wait to get home to consummate your love, with that stranger who - surprise - is in your Monday morning tute. In that case, Uni Ave offers some prime real estate for getting filthy on your stumble home. Now, if you’re after a fuck with a view, I recommend the sculpture garden at the NGA, it’s got some great bushy hiding places, or if you’re after some space to roll around, I’ve heard it goes down on the grassy hill at Regatta Point. Really anywhere at the right time of night can be the setting of your next sexcapade, and in the Secret City, you’re sure to find a little irony with your orgasm.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

LIFE & STYLE

Deeply Divisive My best friend once told me that I was a shit guy, but good for humanity - I have a big enough ego and a good enough dirty look that I had to agree with her. So, consider this column a space where I can air my grievances, confront cultural cringes and try to tackle issues - all at once. I want to instigate discussion and tear friendships apart. Well, maybe not… but you get the idea. Thanks for joining me.

Political discrimination is Discrimination Liam Fitzpatrick My skin’s a little burnt. There’s a hole in my boots that goes all the way through to my foot, and I’m even further behind in my Uni work then I was before.

ging noises when I spoke in class, and called me “fag” in the corridor. It inspired me to call Labor, and it’s the reason I got passionate about politics.

Today, I’ve walked the streets of Canberra for the ACT Labor party candidate, Josh Ceramidas. Josh is an incredible candidate. He was homeless in his twenties, and has since dedicated his life to making housing more accessible, the union movement stronger, and is the fiercest male ally for queers and women I’ve ever met. He is who the ANU community should vote for, and the sort of person I joined the Labor party for.

Now, my wallet contains a fouryear-old membership card, I’m President of the Labor Left, and I do my best to bring more young people into the movement, so that they can become the sorts of activists we all need.

That being said, Julia Gillard was my main motivation. Watching her Misogyny Speech at age 15 gave me the courage to fight back against the guys who’d make gag-

I am not saying this to for the prestige. In fact, being public about your Labor affiliation at the ANU ensures you the opposite. From my experiences, there is an undercurrent at the ANU, which all too often marginalises students involved with the Labor Party. Irrespective of the cause they are advocating for, or their identities as queer, women, PoC, or students from low SES region-

al backgrounds - they’re tainted, discredited and de-legitimised because “they’re Labor”. Indeed, our student association has a reputation for it amongst other universities. As Gen-Rep I’ve had people say “but you would do that”, discounting the work I’ve done on refugee rights, campus assault policy and NUS. They have suggested it’s part of an agenda, and remained mistrusting of my intentions. I’ve struggled to reconcile how a woman from a regional and low SES background could be asked, “how many ANU Labor Left and Young Labor meetings have you been to” when applying for a position. I’ve had to console someone who’d been rejected from an ANUSA ticket out of “concern for [their] involvement with Labor.” And I’ve been in meetings where people have been forced to disclose their political affiliation. Entertain this: a woman is blocked from a ticket for being a woman, or a gay person is forced to disclose their sexuality in a meeting. Of course, we would never stand for that. But the moment they have a Labor membership, it’s free game to name, shame and discount them. This isn’t the experience of everyone, nor is it a culture every ANU student indulges in. It is, however, a practice that rejects people’s ex-

periences and activism because of their political affiliation. It’s stupid at best, and prejudicial at worst. It’s political discrimination feigning as “independence”, and is something ANU students should object to. This is not to say that some ‘Labor kids’ on campus haven’t done shit things, or behaved inappropriately. They have. But that’s not because they’re Labor or because of a culture within the party. It’s because there will always be shit people. We need to look past the colour of one and other’s tee-shirts and recognise that the student movement is strongest when it is pluralistic. Moreover, our causes and our associations are bigger than each and every one of us. Political discrimination is discrimination, irrespective of your politics. We’re so much better than that. So, if anybody thinks they’re entitled to lock people out of it, expect to have that called out for what it is: sheer and utter arrogance.

ENVIRONMENT

The Everyday Magic of the Op-shop Mia Jessurun

My first experiences with op-shops were magical and uncomplicated forages into the racks of my local Vinnies; set to distinctly repetitive 40s jazz that would be irritating, or perhaps just unnoticed, anywhere but there; amongst familiar faced volunteers and old women giving me unsolicited but oddly satisfying fashion advice; drenched with the mothbally smell of the first rack of jumpers for the year - soft, wooly and itchy against my fingers as I would rifle through. The joy was in the simplicity, the repetition and the comfortable unchangedness of the physical space and the people within it. But lately, in a post-Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Thrift Shop world, a more rational magic has become apparent; the magic of the win-win-win of environmental sustainability, ethical accountability and affordability that op-shops offer, far surpassing the offerings of fast-fashion or (admired-from-afar) high fashion, on all accounts.

On that note, and perhaps most practically appealing to the modern, HECS debt-burdened student, opshops offer access to a treasure trove of unique and high quality fashion on a shoestring. Whilst this clearly varies with the location, brand and quality of the op-shop and wares, $10 is likely to get you pretty far towards a sustainable haul. That’s more than can be said for even the cheapest of fast-fashion chains! Even better: although second hand, the items you find are not necessarily of low quality, such as one might expect of the average $5 t-shirt. This means you’ll be able to keep and wear your op-shop goods for longer - before donating them back of course! What more could you want? But even if none of these reasons are compelling, do it for the fun. The experience and the uniqueness of an op-shopping trip shared with close friends, who will try on 70s formalwear and chuckle with you at ridiculous shoulder pads, honestly seem enough motivation in itself. Regardless of the reason, every dollar spent in an op-shop that would otherwise have gone to a chain store in a shiny, generic Westfield seems like a win to me.

We all recall the mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle” from primary school; perhaps accompanied by a poorly constructed flow chart clumsily created on Microsoft Word 2003, or a generic lesson on the meanings of recycling numbers on plastic packaging. These lessons were probably important, but could hardly enthral a class of eight-year-olds. Well, I invite you to cast aside any scepticism, because op-shopping is an ideal, and far more enjoyable, reuse strategy. This is just as well, given the jarring 2700 litres of water required to produce a single cotton shirt - placing the textiles industry behind only paper and oil in its water consumption and the estimated 132 million tonnes of coal required to generate the annual energy requirements of the global textiles industry. By purchasing goods second-hand these environmental harms are eliminated. Even better, by arriving at the op-shop with a bag of unwanted clothes of one’s own, the staggering 30kg of textile waste generated per person per year can be offset as well. Perfectly usable (if embarrassing or emotionally charged) clothes can have a second life. Even those items which have been loved-to-death can be resold as bulk scrap fabric by the

If you’re not an op-shopper already, then why not pay a visit to The Green Shed in Garema Place next time you need a way of procrastinating between classes? It has plenty of clothing for $4 a piece, an array of costumes and shelf upon shelf books to get you started!

store, generating income for the charity whilst minimising waste. And on a less altruistic note, dropping off your pre-loved goods in person happens to be the perfect justification for picking up just one more slightly-ill fitting, but oh so lovely jumper! The costs of the textiles industry are far from exclusively environmental though, as we probably all know, but likely struggle with our conscience to confront. Textiles sweatshops with exploitative, unreliable and inhumane contracts, wages and work environments - have become an in-

herent aspect of a global textiles industry dominated by profits and fast fashion. This can seem hard to act on though; designated ethical fashion is often priced at a premium, out of the reach of many students - especially when reconciled with all the other demands on our limited incomes. This is where op-shopping comes in: by avoiding the production of a new good, you can trust that your money isn’t supporting large, exploitative corporations. Even better, your money is most likely going to a charity! In this way, your (likely very limited) dollars can make a difference.

photograph from the woroni archives

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

ENVIRONMENT

Making sustainable fashion accessible Morgan Alexander

Numerous people talk about the function of fashion. Miuccia Prada, for example, said, “Fashion is instant language.” Whether we care about our outward appearance or not, what we wear says something about us, and in more ways than one. Ostensibly, your clothes can tell a story about who you are in that moment, from being cosy and lazy on a day in, to being chic and sophisticated on a night out, and anywhere in between. Fashion may often be characterised as superficial or materialistic for this very reason, but our clothes have several other functions - fashion can be art, an expression of something, a reflection of something. Marc Jacobs claims that “clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them.” It’s a provocative thought, one that tries to transcend the superficial label often slapped onto the fashion industry. I, however, disagree with Mr Jacobs (at least to an extent). Sure, functional fashion (as opposed to artistic fashion) is reproduced by the people who wear it, and these people matter, but this is only one half of the story - specifically the second half, after the clothes are made available to consumers. So what about the first half? It’s increasingly common knowledge that the fashion industry has severe

environmental (and social) impacts. I chronically eschew much conventional fashion because of these negative consequences, yet I couldn’t turn down tickets to Fashfest (Canberra’s own fashion festival, now four years old). Fashfest features mostly Australian designers, including a number from the Canberra region, and - this year at least - a handful that claimed to be ‘sustainable.’ Sustainable can mean many things in this context. It can be ‘socially sustainable’ by being made locally without sweatshops, it can be the use of ‘sustainable materials’ such as organic cotton, or it involve recycling or repurposing existing products into something new. As an example of this latter idea of sustainability, one designer at this years’ Fashfest turns old sleeping bags into winter outerwear: puffer jackets and the like. I thought this was an incredible idea, and an amazing example of how fashion can represent something beyond the person wearing it. Many sustainable fashion brands, however, are less tantalising, at least for a uni-age student. In my search for sustainable alternatives, a not-insignificant portion of sustainable fashion I come across adheres to a specific aesthetic: always quirky, often baggy or patch-worked, with lots of draping and tassels and shawls going on. To paraphrase one of my good friends, ‘Yeah alright - I

might wear that in another thirty years, but right now it’s not my thing.’ And I agree. Most of the time, sustainable fashion comes in unappealing styles - or at extortionate prices for the average university student. So what are we to do? Luckily for us, sustainable alternatives to fast fashion are becoming more accessible. We may have to change our behaviour - buy less, be prepared to spend slightly more and become more conscientious of our power as consumers - but it is possible for a uni student to have a sustainable wardrobe. Clothes swaps and op-shopping are some of the most sustainable alternatives - socially, environmentally and economically. On the other hand, if you want to buy something new - as most of us do every so often - there are new tools that help bring transparency to the sustainability of clothing brands. A few databases are around that rate brands based on different metrics of sustainability: workers’ conditions, environmental impact, animal welfare, and so on. Ethical.org.au is one example, while the Behind the Barcode report is another. Good on You (an online website with a free app), runs a blog of tips for developing a sustainable fashion sense, in addition to compiling an ever-expanding collection of ratings for major fash-

ion brands. From American Apparel and Zara, to Cotton On and Country Road, Good on You breaks down the fashion industry in a transparent way and makes sustainable fashion accessible. Once you find the information, making sustainable choices can be surprisingly simple. They are for me, at least. When I learn that a particular product is unsustainable, I gradually lose any desire to support it. It may take time, and it may involve some small sacrifices, but for me, these choices are worth it. They reflect what I believe in, what I want from and for the world, and turn my spending power into a commentary on the issues I care about. Just as fashion can be an expression of art or of the person wearing it, it can also tell a story about these issues. What you purchase and wear expresses your implicit support for one side or the other of this story, of what those clothes represent. Where do you stand?

ENVIRONMENT

Woroni Environment’s Summer Travel Guide Why not fit some nature and adventure into your summer holiday? We’ve collected some tips and must-see recommendations for exploring Australian nature once you are free from university for the year. Close to ANU or a bit further afield, take the opportunity to get some fresh air and experience the great outdoors.

Aston Cox Red Rocks Gorge You can run, walk or ride your horse along any part of the Canberra Centenary Track - a multiuse trail that runs around the ACT. One particular section that is definitely worth your while is just up from Kambah Pools. Start by parking your car at Kambah Pools and follow the track upstream. This trail follows the Murrumbidgee River, one of the big arteries of the Murray Darling Basin. There are lots of rapids in this section, and is regularly paddled by kayakers. The actual ‘Red Rocks’ are a specky set of cliffs that stretch 30 metres up above the river. It’s a popular spot for rock climbing. If you go early in the morning you might even see a platypus. If it’s a warm day take a dip in the river, or check out the bush at the nudist beach. Anna Normyle Mount Ainslie The base of Mount Ainslie is a great place for a summer afternoon stroll. There are multiple gates to enter the reserve, behind the War Memorial or from Ainslie, Dickson or Harrison. Fire trails run around the base so just pick whatever’s best for you, whether it is a walk, jog or mountain bike. Unless you head for the top (and a very worthwhile view), the terrain is easy undulating with a mixture of open grassland and scrub. Kangaroo sightings are almost guaranteed round dusk, but there are also a variety of

native birds, reptiles and the odd echidna to enjoy. Ben Galea Black Mountain One of my favourite things about studying in Canberra is the proximity to the natural environment. Often when you’re on campus, the abundant European deciduous trees dominate the vista, but a mere glance to the west will remind you why Canberra maintains its reputation as the bush capital. For an ANU student, Black Mountain sits at your doorstep! You only have to cross Clunies Ross Rd, walk through our leading science research body and you’re in the bush. ‘Black’, as it’s colloquially known, is a special place for a lot of people, and for a lot of reasons. The mountain and the ANU campus have long been important meeting grounds and places of cultural significance to the Ngambi and Ngunnawal people. On a weekend you could come across a mountain biking competition, a PhD student stalking a specific bird, some beginner boulderers heading out for a climb or a group of conservation volunteers pulling out the odd weed. There are numerous walking trails that can take you around the mountain, though if you’re after a direct ascent, the popular walking trail starting from the base at CSIRO will take you to the summit in 1.6km. I’d recommend just sitting and consciously focussing on the finer detail of what’s in front of you. Time has created an

artwork arguably more beautiful anything you’ll see at the National Gallery. Charlotte’s Pass, Mount Kosciuszko All those who have been skiing at Thredbo recently will have read about “Kosciuszko in the summer— there’s more to it than you think.” Only three hours drive from Canberra, Charlotte’s Pass is a good starting point for anyone wanting to ‘climb’ Australia’s highest peak. It’s an 18km return walk from the carpark to the summit. With this years October snowfall, you’re almost guaranteed to come across remnant patches of snow well into November (bring mates just for the snow fight). In warmer weather, expect a high of between 18-22 degrees. Thredbo is becoming a summer destination for other reasons too - the town is developing a name for itself in the mountain biking arena, with many downhill sections taking you through that uniquely Australian granite and Snow Gum country. The South Coast It’s an endless playground of national parks, quiet communities, pristine beaches and abundant native wildlife. Pigeon House Mountain and The Castle are two seriously breath-taking walks that are renowned in the area. A two-wheel drive car can get you to the carparks at the base of each climb. While Pigeon House will only take you one morning to complete,

the walk up The Castle is a longer more arduous one, where groups either start walking in the early morning and get back at dark, or they camp close to the top and come down the following day. I went up The Castle in November 2014 and I’ve never seen so many flowers - the whole mountain was in bloom. You can camp close to the top either at an official camp site, or just around to the east underneath a prominent overhang. The views from the top of both mountains are stunning, and you would almost be mistaken in thinking that modern civilisation had ever reached the area. The Castle, in particular, has a number of flowing creeks clean enough for drinking - that way you can save the weight of carrying extra water. Tips: Remember that when you’re out and about in summer, the snakes are too, so ensure you carry a compression bandage and have a general understanding for first aid. Warm weather and activity equals excess sweat, so you will need to increase your water intake, as dehydration can be a problem in these warmer months. Do your homework before heading out on any big walks so you know what to expect. It’s best to travel with at least one mate, carry an emergency communication device and tell people where you’re going. photograph from the woroni archives

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

ENVIRONMENT

The real risk: rethinking arbitrary animal welfare Grace Dudley

The NSW Government has recently labelled the licence that allows property owners to kill native animals as ‘red tape’ to further development in the state, before then proposed a new, largely discretionary, risk-based approach to take its place. This comes as part of a legislative reform that is seeking to repeal the Native Vegetation Act, the Threatened Species Act and the Nature Conservation Act, and replace them with one single piece of legislation - the Biodiversity Conservation Act. Legal centralisation and simplification weakens environmental protection, however, and such change would put native species and the forests, rivers and ecosystems they live in at additional risk. This attitude is symptomatic of the arbitrary manner in which animals are treated and regarded in human society when economic or other stakes are at play. On a broader level, the introduction of the new Act reflects the hit-andmiss manner with which our natural world is regarded, and is of particular concern from an animal rights perspective. It would be difficult to disagree that there is an emerging belief that animal welfare is important in Australia. We cannot stand pets being abused, we feel uncomfortable with Orcas at SeaWorld, and there is an ongoing dialogue about live exports. Yet our relationship with animals is complex, at times even illogical: at the same time a government bans greyhound racing,* it plans to reduce protections for wildlife. Animal welfare is haphazardly categorized in accordance with human interest all too often. This conditional attitude disadvantages animals, with the new proposed government legislation making it easier for property owners to disregard the lives of native species. The Section 121 licence that is likely to be abolished restricts the number of animals that property owners are able to kill, and places a requirement on them to report these numbers to the Office of Environment and Heritage. While this allows for some form of accountability, animals are still in a fairly arbitrary position. Even with the licence, 47,000 native animals and birds were killed in NSW by property owners in 2015. A ‘risk-based approach’ would essentially eliminate the ability to

contexts. The law makes distinctions based on these labels, making it okay to harm an animal in one context and illegal in another. In one context, an animal may be considered a pet and then in another - for example in the wild or in the laboratory - they will be labelled a ‘pest’ or a ‘specimen.’ Further, whilst it is an offence to harm a domestic animal, it is deemed acceptable to harm a native animal if it interferes with human activities. This questionable logic continues in the new Biodiversity Conservation Act, where harming a native animal during land clearing will no longer be an offence if the property owner is unaware of the animal being there. When did it become acceptable to harm an animal due to a lack of knowledge?

monitor how native animals are being treated. The proposed system is based on an evaluation of the risk (high, moderate, and low) of ‘wildlife interactions’ (generally humans controlling animal populations) - with risk being calculated by the potential impacts on human safety, animal welfare or species populations. Only high risk activities would require a licence. This category includes specific and unusual activities such as ‘pet shops selling native wildlife, trading in native plants and keeping higher risk reptiles’, thus leaving a void between these contexts and interactions with the remainder of native species in NSW. Activities deemed ‘low risk’ will no longer require a licence or oblige the property owner to record and report kills to authorities. As a Labour MP has suggested, these acts will occur “with no oversight and little consequence.” For example, animals that are ‘locally abundant’ but pose a threat to crops or property are free to be killed, indicating that the term

‘open season’ used by many commentators is sadly applicable. This risk-based framework accentuates the way in which the value placed on animals is calculated by their usefulness or ‘peskiness’ to human activities. If animals do not fit in with the designated plans of humans, if their population levels are too high, or if they inhabit areas humans also have claim over, they are labelled as ‘pests’. As Malcolm Caulfield notes, “because the prevailing attitude of killing wildlife or feral animals in these circumstances is ‘necessary’, there has been little consideration of whether those activities are cruel or not.” By developing a narrow, riskbased hierarchy which decides when it is ‘okay’ to harm or kill animal populations, the value of an animal is understood based on their impact on human interests, not their intrinsic worth as sentient beings. These highly variable evaluations of animals continue when we compare the treatment of animals in different

These kinds of patterns do not bode well for the future of our native animals. Stand Up for Nature claims that one hundred species of plants and animals have become extinct in NSW. A further one thousand species are threatened. In NSW, there are specific protections for these threatened species, yet a strategy that waits until animals are no longer abundant seems inconsistent with any real concern for wildlife populations. This legislative change seems to contradict efforts to preserve what we have left of Australia’s unique fauna, all in the name of priorities that hold greater economic weight for government and business interests. In 2011, the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy listed ‘general public ignorance and/or apathy regarding the welfare of animals in the wild’ as a major risk for the welfare of wildlife in Australia. The changes in NSW have little regard for welfare, and feed a culture that continues to determine the value of animals as based on human interests. The real risk, then, to animal welfare and biodiversity, may be our own approach to the lives of animals. Editor’s note: On Tuesday the 11th of October, NSW Premier Mike Baird officially signed a ban reversing the ban on greyhound racing, stating he ‘got it wrong’.

photography by joanne leong

ENVIRONMENT

The Animal Condition Jharna Chamlagai

I became vegetarian at the age of 12. To be honest, I didn’t really have a reason for it other than not liking the taste of meat. I do remember thinking it was cruel to kill animals just to eat them, but I was nothing close to the passionate animal lover that most of my meat-eating 12 year old friends claimed to be. At the time, I had no idea of the realities of the animal agriculture business. Documentaries like Cowspiracy and Food, Inc. have since shed light on the corruption of the meat industry, and the impact of animal agriculture on the environment. However, these exposés are reported from an American context and are only offer one representation of the food and industries. As such, The Animal Condition, an Australian documentary on farming practices, has been described by its director, Michael Dahlstrom, as “the first movie in the world to thoroughly examine all sides of the animal welfare debate.” I caught up with Michael to learn more about the inspirations and intentions behind the film. *** Q. What was your inspiration or motivation for making a documentary about animal welfare and Australian farming practices? Me and my fellow filmmakers, Ande, Gus and SJ, were watching funny animal videos on YouTube when fate, or a faulty algorithm, led us to an under-

cover video of animal abuse on farms. Shocked, we decided to act, and used the skills we learnt studying at NIDA to make our first film. Q. Was it difficult to find animal welfare groups, activists, farmers and politicians that were willing to talk to you so you could expose different stories? I’m the beginning, Mark Pearson at Animal Liberation NSW set up a rendezvous with two activists in the middle of the night. We wanted to see inside farms and they wanted a light shone on animal abuse, so we just had to trust each other. We’d heard that the animal industries would never talk to us, so it took us a long time to approach Australian Pork Limited, but when we did, they let our cameras go places the media had never been allowed to see. Farmers are generally cautious of cameras, they’re concerned people with cameras will distort the truth in the editing room. But, once we’d shown good faith to APL, other industries also opened their doors. The hardest interview to get was with then Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig, who we wanted to speak to about live animal exports. His minders originally deflected our requests, so to get him on camera we spoke to all of his rivals, then he had no choice but to agree to an interview. Q. Many reviews have said that the documentary leaves audiences to come to their own conclu-

sions. As the director, was this your intention? Did your intentions change while filming? We started off making an expose style animal rights documentary, but during the filming we realised we were only hearing one side of a complex issue. What we ended up making was a film that gives all sides of the animal welfare argument a chance to state their argument, then we leave it up to the audience to reach their own conclusions. Audiences are smart, who am I to push my opinions on them? We, the filmmakers, decided the best thing we could offer was information and education in the most entertaining way possible. Q. Filming required you to witness some pretty horrific scenes, were there any points where you found it difficult to keep going? Was there anything you witnessed that you decided not to show? There are plenty of films out there that show the worst of the worst animal abuse, and they do a good job of that. We took a different road and focused on average conditions that animals are kept in. Shock can be a good tool, but often it doesn’t lead to lasting results. Our film hopes to influence lasting change through open dialogue between the various stakeholders. Q. What are some of the main messages that you try to get across?

The Animal Condition documents the rise of animal welfare awareness in Australia, from fringe issues to the major national scandal when live animal export took over our television screens. You see us, the filmmakers, grapple with each other and question our own morals as we try to make sense of the complex web of opinion. What we ended up making was an analysis of human thinking, an examination of how we, as a species, reach decision about how we should treat animals. *** In Hindsight, I think becoming vegetarian at the age of 12 was my own little way of reaching a decision about how we should treat animals. This is not to say that there aren’t other equally valid conclusions to make, and I look forward to watching The Animal Condition to better understand the discourse. Michael’s suggestion to stay informed, ask questions and know you may not have all the answers, is key to continuing the conversation on the ethics of farming, animal welfare and social reform on these issues.

Image: Still from the Animal condition

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

The Sustainability of Hunting Sebastian Rossi Hunting is often framed in a negative light - the illegal poaching of endangered species for personal benefit is one common issue. This type of ‘hunting’ destroys biodiversity - just like a pest would - and is absolutely unacceptable. Big game hunting purely for sport and pleasure may arguably be fine in legal and regulated settings, but it turns destructive when it reaches the point of trophy hunting. Think of poor Cecil the lion who was infamously the victim of illegal hunting. This type of glorified hunting is detrimental to the environment as much as the animals living in it; as one of the worse sides of hunting, these practices mustn’t be encouraged. Yet, hunting can be used as a recreational sport. It can provide a source for goods and services, including skins for leather or fur, meat for food, ornamental objects for decoration, and so on. Hunting may also be a means of biological population control for either introduced species or

over-populated native species in a particular area. In Australia, this last use of hunting - the control of animal populations - is commonly used as a form of ‘pest-control,’ as it is often practiced on pests and introduced species. Kangaroos, although illegal to kill, have open seasons every so often to cull the numbers down a bit. As well as for goods, this serves as an example of how hunting may effectively manage a native species. Similarly, rabbits, foxes, camels and cane toads are all instances of biological ‘disaster’ where hunting and culling is an absolute necessity to quell their populations. When these species aren’t kept in check, they grow to the size where they compete with and push out other - often native - species, which may begin dying out, or relocating at best. Using restrictive zones in addition to designated hunting areas may also be useful for controlling populations. Restrictive zones regulate animal ac-

cess and include water catchment areas, government land, farms and urban areas. This helps keep protected animals (and people) safe from wild animals such as crocodiles in the Northern Territory. Alternatively, it may be better to relocate protected species. One example of such relocation is the reintroduction of the eastern quoll - a small marsupial - to the Canberra region. The quoll was endangered by competition over and destruction of their habitat by introduced species such as rabbits, which ate their food-sources and hence became threatened in the area. This is, therefore, also a good example of how biological pests may destroy the delicate biodiversity of Australian environments. Similarly, we must take great care when approaching any species issue in Australia lest unforeseen consequences arise. Cane toads were originally introduced to remove cane beetles, which were introduced by accident and were eating all the

sugar cane of Queensland. Yet, when introduced, the toads were more interested in other insects, their populations spiralled out of control, they damaged the local environment, and have since spread to the Northern Territory. Due to the poison sacks under their skin, cane toads also threaten native species that attempt to eat them. Hunting these little monsters is, therefore, actively encouraged to help quell their numbers and limit their destructive power. Whilst hunting can have negative impacts when used for the wrong reasons, it is not inherently evil. Hunting is an essential method for maintaining our environment that we simply cannot do without. Rather than disparaging hunting, critics should instead focus on ensuring hunting practices are regulated by appropriate restrictions and guidance.

Denying Climate Change Vikram Ravendran

There are some people who don’t believe in human-induced climate change. The newly elected One Nation senator, Malcolm Roberts, is one such person. In an appearance on ABC’s Q&A show in August, he said that data of global temperatures in recent decades was “manipulated” by NASA. He also confidently stated that no global warming has occurred in the last 20 or so years. But that’s not all. The One Nation Party wants a royal commission into the fraud of climate science and a review of the Bureau of Meteorology for what the party believe are upward adjustments to historical climate records.

other day. Like-minded examples from abroad are plentiful too, including Marine Le Pen, a promising presidential candidate in France, and the infamous Donald Trump. Trump’s exact words in a tweet from 2012 were: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

Malcolm Roberts and the One Nation Party are not alone in their beliefs. Andrew Bolt - a prominent media personality who writes for the major news outlets, has his own show on channel 10 and writes “Australia’s most-read political blog” - denies the plausibility of climate change every

The reality is also that for these climate change deniers to be right, 97% of all actively-publishing climate scientists must have been wrong. This implies that the 97% and their funders have all been part of an elaborate conspiracy.

The reality is that the Malcolm Roberts-es of the world don’t work as scientists or devote their lives to understanding the issue of climate change. They just choose to believe nonsense spread over the internet.

It is worth mentioning that there is a history of polluting companies trying to suppress climate science. The Western Fuels Association, for example, spent $510,000 in 1991 on a campaign to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact).” It’s also worth mentioning that Malcolm Roberts was previously a coalminer and a mining engineer for many years prior to his political career. That Roberts and his friends are able to have a voice in the lawmaking process is therefore worrying to say the least. While the other political parties are fighting amongst themselves, the One Nation Party is going from strength to strength. They had no seats in the previous Senate, but after this year’s election they gained four. The Liberals, in contrast, were left with a one-seat majority in the senate, lost four seats to Labor in the house of reps, and are being criticised heavily for a lack of

competency after the knifing of Tony Abbott last year. Perhaps more worrying, is that, as stated above, the One Nation Party is not alone; moreover, many similar movements across the world in the form of Donald Trump, Brexit and various other outfits in Europe are seeing success. In addition to climate change, many of them seem to oppose the acceptance of refugees. But, funnily enough, climate change is set to make the issue of refugees much bigger than it is now. A significant proportion of the world lives in poor, low-lying coastal areas, meaning there could be a real crisis in coming decades if sea levels rise as projected. There could be literally hundreds of millions of climate refugees in the world, making the current situation look tame in comparison. It has long been time to stop denying climate change and begin working to mitigate it.

SCIENCE

WHO and OIE and the One Health initiative Phillipa Beale

The World Health Organisation who hasn’t heard of it? Most people know about the WHO (not the band, but the United Nations organization), but for those who don’t know, WHO sets international health standards and directs global responses to health crises. But who knew the WHO has a quirky, animal-loving cousin? The Office International des Epizooties - or OIE - is the animal version of the WHO (clearly…). Together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, these organisations have launched the One Health initiative, an online platform that rethinks the dominant paradigm of treating human health and disease as distinct from animal health and disease. Office International des Epizooties was the name chosen way back yonder in 1924 when people came to think, “Hey, maybe we should care about animal diseases” and, “Since animal diseases don’t seem to care about borders, maybe we should make this an international thing.” So there you have it, the OIE was formed. In 2003, OIE’s official title became the World Organization for Animal Health (through their acronym remains OIE) and it now includes 180 member countries. (On a side note, I am completely bamboozled as to why they wouldn’t change their acronym to WOAH. If you and a friend saw it beside the World Health Organisation, one could exclaim, “WOAH!” The other could then respond, “WHO?”, followed by a high five and a chuckle. A real opportunity has been missed.) The OIE, like the WHO, is made up of a General Assembly consisting of one delegate from each member country. The General Assembly meets once a year in Paris (how romantic) to discuss creating international standards for aspects of animal health, especially those affecting trade, and to adopt resolutions for the control of major animal diseases. In addition to the delegates, regions have representatives that oversee the regional adaptation of surveillance and control of animal diseases. The OIE also has a number of specialist commissions aimed at using current scientific knowledge to help develop

the rise of human-animal contact, and the subsequent impacts. For example, human interference in natural ecosystems will cause the emergence of new diseases, often via increased stress on wildlife populations. The case is similar with changes in climate and human behavior. These risks increase with globalization. To help predict, respond to, and prevent the spread of diseases in the future, One Health aims to educate readers about the relationship between human and animal health.

international standards on specific groups, such as ‘Terrestrial animals’ and ‘Aquatic Animals’. Besides shaping international policy, another major part of the OIE’s mission is disseminating information across its member countries. This system largely relies on altruistic self-reporting by member countries, and provides a system for detection of disease emergence patterns and a warning to trade partnerships. Providing this level of transparency is one of the primary goals of the OIE. When an outbreak is detected, the OIE is able to respond with rapid technical advice for animal health professionals on the ground. Everyone benefits by preventing economically devastating diseases from spreading across borders. If fewer animals develop illnesses, then fewer people should get sick or lose their livelihoods. This relationship exists because 60% of human infectious diseases are of animal origin. That is not to say the impact doesn’t also go the other way, but in that instance we are generally less likely to recognise the transfer of disease. (An elephant is somewhat inhibited from taking itself to see the

doctor—no Medicare you see.) Regardless, human health and animal health are tied together - not exactly a surprise. This concept is called “One Health.” While One Health is not a new idea - the term having been coined in the early 2000s - the OIE recently released a One Health web portal. This site allows people to go and learn more about One Health, and what the OIE does at the human/animal disease interface. This is pretty cool, because people should care. (Even if it is purely for self-serving reasons like “I don’t want Ebola”, or “I think Avian Influenza makes me look fat.”) On the One Health website it states, “Human health and animal health are interdependent and bound to the health of the ecosystems in which they exist.” Admittedly, this approach is a little human centric: protect the animals to protect ourselves. Ultimately, however, this perspective doesn’t disadvantage animals, because the outcome of adopting the One Health approach can only be good for both animals and people. This means recognising

The Hendra virus is an example of this type of emerging disease network, first identified in 1994, with more recent cases culminating in several human deaths. Flying foxes act as the natural reservoir for Hendra virus, and about 47% have been exposed and mounted an immune response to the virus. It is transmitted through the animal body fluids and waste. Horses exposed to these by-products may contract the infection, which can then spread to other horses or humans. In horses, the virus results in neurological and respiratory signs, and in both horses and humans it is deadly. A likely cause for emergence of this disease is food shortages, which stress the bats and lead to higher rates of transmission and exposure. Okay, so do you get it? One Health: stressing out the environment is a bit like poking that crocodile in the face when it was just trying to take a nice nap in the sunshine. Y’all gonna get bit. I for one am happy to hear that international organizations like the OIE and WHO are pushing the One Health angle. These organizations are increasingly important for coordinating timely and effective responses to disease outbreaks, and now it is clear that this means animal and human diseases. Good one OIE. It almost makes up for your poor acronym choice.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

What we want, what we’d give up Rob Morris

Pork barreling and horse trading are both terms that conjure up fear for all political purists. The idea of vote trading evokes images of factional power brokers negotiating shady backroom deals to retain their control, however, this is not always the case. Vote trading can allow us to clarify our views and reveal what it is that we truly want, because while most people have strong opinions about what they want, the real question is what are they willing to give up? Vote trading is simple: I need your vote and you need mine. There are two possible outcomes: we can both be stubborn and neither will get the outcome we desire, or we can trade votes. Granted, I will have to stomach a policy I do not care that much about, but if it means I get a policy that I really want, then arguably, both parties and their constituents are better off. It is useless to base our judgements and rhetoric on what we want – it is human nature to want everything, making achieving it the difficult

part. We may want low taxes and high spending, or low house prices with high immigration, but both are fantasies when considered in isolation. They can only become serious considerations when we ask ourselves what we would be willing to trade for them. Consider Bernie Sanders. Ostensibly, Sanders ran on an anti-war platform, but when asked if he would support Gary Johnson - another anti-war candidate - his answer was a short, curt and simple, ‘No’. Sanders cited concerns over Johnson’s economic platform and climate policy, and this tells us something: while Sanders may say he is anti-war, he is unwilling to trade for it. It is naive to think that policies require no sacrifice. Sanders may have a list of policy prescriptions that he wants implemented, and sure, he wants them all done, but in the end this list is constructed in order of priority. If you had the opportunity to enact five of the policies on your list, does number six really matter? What about number seven? Number eight?

This leads to an interesting question: do you truly want a policy if you’re unwilling to trade for it? Third parties and political outsiders are key examples. Many of them promise the world, fueling their rise to prominence with pledges for the end to a wide range of public dissatisfactions. Paradoxically, it is the power that fuels their rise which ultimately leads to their fall, as it is only when they have the power to actually influence policy that they have to make a choice. Now, they must think as a member of a collective. What is important to my party? What do we represent? What are we trying to achieve? Navigating this path is difficult for many third parties as they try to get their base to agree, when they only thing that binds the base together is disagreement.

from different states, and enabling them to strategically trade their votes. Will we see an app like this during the next Australian election, where two people, who would otherwise be voting against a safe seat, trade votes to make their own vote that little bit more marginal? Will this lead to the dissolution of electorates all together? And how can we trust the person on the other end? Either way, vote trading is evidently here to stay. To claim absolutism on policy is unrealistic, and demanding policy reflect all of your beliefs is simply impossible in a democratic society. As such, we should not ask what we want, but what we can merely tolerate.

A super interesting case of vote trading is currently sweeping America, where Republicans are being forced to question what it is they really want. Currently, there are efforts underway to bring pork barreling into the digital age. The #NeverTrump app is facilitating contact between two people

The Backpacker Tax: An Update Karan Dhamija

The government recently submitted a legislation in Parliament for the revised backpacker tax, this ended months of tumultuous arguments between the coalition partners and significant lobbying by certain lobby groups. The original plan, which proposed a flat rate of 32.5% for earnings up to 37,000, was supposed to come into effect on July 1, but was postponed for six months after significant pressure during the election campaign. The new plan reduces the rate to 19%, increases the departure tax by $5 for all

travellers leaving Australia, and claws back more from the superannuation funds of those leaving Australia after working-holidays. Australia’s agriculture and tourism industries rely heavily on travellers working in seasonal jobs. There was significant concern that the original plan would leave many regional farming communities unable to fill demand for workers. This, is in addition to the fact that there has been a general decline in working backpackers since 2012/13.

The announcement also contained a raft of other suggested implementations, all in an effort to induce more people to come to Australia on working-holidays. These included the relaxation of certain requirements, extra funds for Tourism Australia to advertise such opportunities, and the maximum allowed age of Australian Working-Holiday Visa applicants being increased from 30 to 35. To fill the gap from the change in proposal, all travellers leaving Australia will now pay a $60 departure tax instead of $55, which should see a

slight increase in international flight costs. Furthermore, travellers leaving Australia after a working-holiday will now pay 95% of their super earnings to tax. It is unclear if the Opposition will support the changes, having previously indicated that they will refer them to a Senate Committee.

Business & Economics

v Liam Osawa A recent ANU study titled ‘Classifying the narrated #selfie: genre typing human-branding activity’ recently utilised software to randomly select 5,000 selfies over a period of 10 days. The study’s co-authors, Dr Toni Eagar and Dr Stephen Dann of the ANU College of Business and Economics, analysed the selfies and found that users were mimicking the marketing practices of small businesses in order to build up an audience – whether they knew it or not. In this ‘commercial exchange’ people are selling a view of themselves and their lifestyles, with likes and follows being the currency of the transaction. The advertising is deliberate and well thought through, though only 1/10 users were found to have purely be looking to attract paid endorsements or ‘insta-fame’. Woroni sat down with Dr Toni Eagar to learn a little more about the findings of the study.

What got you interested in doing the research in the first place? The media has placed a lot of attention on selfies recently. A lot of the coverage criticises selfies as a form of narcissism and vanity. We are selfie-takers ourselves, and we didn’t think that selfies were purely driven by narcissism. We wanted to discover the different types of selfies and the motivations behind them. What was the main tool that people are using selfies as? From our research, we discovered that the majority of people (35%) were using selfies as an autobiography. It was personal correspondence. These selfies ranged from showing their friends and family that they graduated, to selfies in front of a television or at the grocery store. The selfie that was most associated with narcissism was the propaganda selfie (11%), which communicated physical attractiveness for the sole purpose of

seeking followers. The other selfies ranged from celebrating being with a significant other (21%), to self-help (7%) and parody (12%). I think this really helped us demonstrate that selfies aren’t only outlets for the narcissistic. In your study, you mention that some people use Instagram as a means of advertising for a larger business. How effective do you think Instagram is in selling products? It’s a grey area. It depends on how aware the audience is of the person’s sponsorship status. People get followed for positive things, but that positive thing might not necessarily be market-driven. There are a lot of ethical issues that arise as well. Are instagrammers required to disclose their sponsorships with their audience? This disclosure can really change the relationship between the

audience and the instagrammer, and can have some negative consequences at times. Are you planning to go into more depth into your selfie research? We’re thinking about a plan to go into timelines and segment the selfie-takers based on their narratives, instead of singular images. We’re also thinking about looking at audience responses to the usage of types of narratives and the timing of the selfies. This will really help us look at the negative behaviour, like compulsively uploading selfies, and see how true the criticisms from the media really are. The study has been recently published in the European Journal of Marketing.

Trumped up Trickled Down Disaster Sara Rodrigo

From wanting to build a wall on the Mexican border to proposing a national register of all Muslims in the United States, Trump is infamous for his outlandish plans to ‘reform’ America. From trade to tax cuts, his plans could instead mean economic disaster. Trump’s Immigration Plan will cause huge economic losses. Trump’s proposal to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants would cost the federal government between $400 billion to $600 billion immediately. Not only would America’s labour force shrink dramatically, but real GDP would fall by $1.6 trillion US dollars. What Trump fails to realise is that immigrants are a vital part of the American economy. A lower employment pool will give rise to higher wages, and in turn, higher interest rates. John McLaren of the University of Virginia says that, “Industries such as agriculture, that are highly dependent on cheap immigrant labour, will experience an increase in wages that

as well as destroying the industry as it is now, could have follow through effects to the whole economy. We’re talking about high interest rates, inflation and labour shortages.”

total $30 trillion. Trump has yet to include spending reductions to offset the huge tax cuts he promises - one has to wonder whether his team has thought this through?

Tax cuts may also worsen deficit and Federal debt. If the promised tax cuts were put in action there will be new business investments and firms willing to spend money rather than stack it away. The Tax Foundation released data that the plan could lead to a 11% growth in GDP and gather 5.3 million jobs. However, the tax revenues for the government would fall by $10.14 trillion. If there aren’t any spending cuts immediately after, there would be a widening of the budget deficit, with creditors demanding higher interest on United States’ bonds. This will neutralise the economic benefits that were anticipated in the first place. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the total deficit would be $9.4 trillion between the years 2017 and 2026, which would bring the national debt to a

Trump’s trade reforms could cause also global recession. Trade with China is responsible for nearly half of America’s trade deficit. Trump has declared that China has broken the rules in every way, from “military, subsidies, manipulation of currency [and ]illegal export[ing], to the rampant theft of intellectual property.” He asserts that China’s alleged cheating on labour and environmental protection has forced American workers unfairly out of business. As per the U.S. International Trade Commission, protection of intellectual property will produce more than 2 million jobs in the U.S. and trillions of wealth could be brought back to the U.S. with the elimination of currency cheating and product dumping. However, the main reason for goods being produced in China is that it benefits the world’s

consumers to purchase goods at the cheapest price, which American manufacturing is not doing currently. Economics will tell you that no country can have an advantage in manufacturing everything, and that it is to the benefit of everyone for countries to produce to their advantage. China can produce things cheaply, to the benefit of consumers, while America has moved to a services based economy. Experts say that Trump’s trade reforms could initiate an international trade war. Goods that are not sold to the U.S. could be sold to other countries at lower prices and in return other countries could respond with their own tariffs - leading to a slowdown in global growth and a recession. Trump’s protectionism measures and plans to renegotiate NAFTA are popular. However, instead of saving America’s manufacturing, he could ruin the world economy.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

Does the extinction of the Geelong Falcon spell disaster for the local ecosystem? Mitchell Scott

The Geelong Falcon is a magnificent beast, boasting a wingspan of over two meters with both front doors open. Ever agile, the Geelong Falcon can reach speeds of up to 227km/hr and turn on a dime to hunt its prey. The rearing process of a Geelong Falcon is most curious: it takes over 800 parents to create just one Geelong Falcon, however, despite this complicated process, its population has boomed to a peak of over 5.9 million since 1960. As an apex predator, the Geelong Falcon once ruled over much of Australia. Unfortunately, in recent years the introduction of outsourced labour has severely impacted the species’ mating productivity. In October this year the last Geelong Falcon was hatched, and with it, the 800 workers who helped nurture it to life lost their jobs at the Ford Broadmeadows Assembly Plant. Forecasts for the Geelong local ecosystem look dire. Analysts predict that over a third of workers won’t find new jobs - a brutal outcome for such a fragile environment. Despite Ford offering training in literacy and numeracy over the past four years, and initiatives such as job fairs and career training, Geelong may feel ripples of this ecological disaster for years to come. The doom and gloom, however, is

being eased by generous redundancy payouts, with some workers receiving “lottery” payments of up to $250,000. One former employee who was displaced from his native habitat commented, “I’m retiring thank you very much. Not sad at all”. As these lump sums stretch thinner and thinner over the coming months and years, how will Geelong cope with the loss of its keystone species? Geelong, affectionately termed “Geetroit” by its inhabitants, is a city in flux. After an hour-long drive from Melbourne, the city greets travelers with a warm glow of flames from the top of the Shell Oil Refinery, the Jewel of Corio Bay. The flame is somewhat reminiscent of the Olympic Torch, which burns until the festivities of the Olympics come to an end. Similarly, the fire of Corio Bay represents certainty and employment for the workers of North Geelong – For now. As traditional manufacturing becomes scarce, however, the city is exploring ways to adapt. Deakin University is a living example of the city’s current metamorphosis, and it recently converted a group of 19th century waterfront wool stores into modern tertiary teaching facilities, including an architecture school. Through its own growth, Deakin aims to help

Geelong emerge from its cocoon as a vibrant economic butterfly, rather than a drab depression moth. A lively full-service university should help create jobs in more diverse industries, and reduce future reliance on faltering manufacturing giants like Ford, Shell and Alcoa. The healthcare sector has also experienced significant growth as the $277 million Epworth Hospital recently took in its first patients. Geelong’s second teaching hospital has been described as having a “5 star hotel” feel, and is part of the city’s larger plan to cope with a population of 300,000 by 2031. However, despite big words and grand gestures, Geelong is struggling to rise out of the ashes of Ford and the manufacturing industry - the city’s administration is a microcosm of this struggle. Sporting a bright pink Mohawk and a loud personality to match, Geelong’s last Mayor, Darryn Lyons, was a strong advocate for economic change. Branding himself as an entrepreneur and breath of fresh air, he won the 2013 mayoral election in a landslide. He planned to build a cruise ship pier and convention centre to boost the city’s tourism, shifting the city’s focus for good. Instead, the entire local government was dismissed early this year and put under administration following an inquiry that found

widespread corruption, bullying and incompetence. Evolution isn’t without its missteps, it seems. So what does the extinction of the Geelong Falcon mean for the fragile ecosystem of the city? How long will the sparkling Jewel of Corio Bay keep burning, and what will happen when the rest of the party packs up for good? Optimists point to an emerging industry in carbon fibre, opportunities in tourism, and a government push towards technology startups. Millions of dollars are being poured into public infrastructure, and developers are even backing the city’s future with a new $250m office tower set to be built in the CBD. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, is still a long way off for the unemployed workers of the Ford Broadmeadows Assembly Plant. They’re at the pointy end of Geelong’s evolution as they face retraining and job searching, and limited time before their redundancy payments run dry. They represent yet more collateral from Geelong’s transformation – but their grit shouldn’t be underestimated. All they need is the means to channel their determination into building the Geelong of the future.

SPORTS

Move over Football - The Cricket season has arrived! Ollie Brown My first abiding memory of cricket wasn’t a firework-studded T20 match, a SuperOver of smashing sixes, nor a particularly fine test innings. No, what stuck in my mind was a fleeting moment of cricket where Australia wasn’t even playing. The instance, captured so perfectly on a grainy television in an old lounge-room, was when Brian Lara passed the magical 20,000 test runs mark. Those present watched, mesmerised, as the great Trinidadian raised his bat to the applauding crowd before resuming yet another class-filled innings at the crease. To me, that moment is what cricket is all about. Our beloved sport is not defined by the scoreline, necessarily, or one’s position in the order for a given game, but by moments. We live for the hilarious bursts of larrikinism and cheek that our time-honoured char-

acters deliver almost on cue. Monumental run chases are interspersed with collective sighs of contentment at a beautifully executed cover drive, or a family conversation about the seam variation that finally caught the outside edge. We compete over who can bring the most niche of details and technical nuance to the armchair commentary; are you really watching the game at all, if you don’t somehow find a way to incorporate an in-depth retrospective analysis of Edgbaston 2005 and your personal opinion of Freddie Flintoff? Expect this coming summer of Australian cricket to be no different. With a shock number of new players currently being blooded in the ODI series in South Africa, Australia’s keeping it fresh as we move into a pivotal home season down under. There’s joy for the purists in the six-test sum-

mer; it’s the first in a good few years and looks likely to test the mettle of even our fittest players. We’re hosting both South Africa and New Zealand in what will undoubtedly prove to be fiery battles. Those long hours over consecutive days tend to breed characters, love ‘em or hate ‘em. Look out for fun, games and on-field spats once the red ball comes out to play. In the limited-over arena there’s also plenty on offer for less traditional pundits. Short-format uniforms never pleased Don Bradman, however, our boys will nevertheless don their coloured ‘pyjamas’ when they look to regain the No.1 ODI ranking against Protea, Kiwi and Pakistani opposition. T20 will likely prevail for the younger generation with some exciting fixtures against Sri Lanka and, of course, with the franchised Big Bash. Last year’s record 80,000-strong

crowd is testament to the growing popularity of the commercial state comp, where international signings have brought much-needed pizazz to a previously struggling domestic landscape. So as you crack open a bev, carve your watermelon helmet and snag a self-proclaimed classic catch in the backyard, look out for the upcoming Australian summer of cricket. It often seems that any current side is merely a placeholder for greatness to come, but remember: one hard-fought innings now can be a Brian Lara-esque story to recall fondly in the future. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Sport Meets Politics: AFL Grand Final Day Public Holiday Liam Fitzpatrick

My first abiding memory of cricket wasn’t a firework-studded T20 match, a SuperOver of smashing sixes, nor a particularly fine test innings. No, what stuck in my mind was a fleeting moment of cricket where Australia wasn’t even playing. The instance, captured so perfectly on a grainy television in an old lounge-room, was when Brian Lara passed the magical 20,000 test runs mark. Those present watched, mesmerised, as the great Trinidadian raised his bat to the applauding crowd before resuming yet another class-filled innings at the crease.

cheek that our time-honoured characters deliver almost on cue. Monumental run chases are interspersed with collective sighs of contentment at a beautifully executed cover drive, or a family conversation about the seam variation that finally caught the outside edge. We compete over who can bring the most niche of details and technical nuance to the armchair commentary; are you really watching the game at all, if you don’t somehow find a way to incorporate an in-depth retrospective analysis of Edgbaston 2005 and your personal opinion of Freddie Flintoff?

To me, that moment is what cricket is all about. Our beloved sport is not defined by the scoreline, necessarily, or one’s position in the order for a given game, but by moments. We live for the hilarious bursts of larrikinism and

Expect this coming summer of Australian cricket to be no different. With a shock number of new players currently being blooded in the ODI series in South Africa, Australia’s keeping it fresh as we move into a piv-

otal home season down under. There’s joy for the purists in the six-test summer; it’s the first in a good few years and looks likely to test the mettle of even our fittest players. We’re hosting both South Africa and New Zealand in what will undoubtedly prove to be fiery battles. Those long hours over consecutive days tend to breed characters, love ‘em or hate ‘em. Look out for fun, games and on-field spats once the red ball comes out to play. In the limited-over arena there’s also plenty on offer for less traditional pundits. Short-format uniforms never pleased Don Bradman, however, our boys will nevertheless don their coloured ‘pyjamas’ when they look to regain the No.1 ODI ranking against Protea, Kiwi and Pakistani opposition. T20 will likely prevail for the younger generation with some excit-

ing fixtures against Sri Lanka and, of course, with the franchised Big Bash. Last year’s record 80,000-strong crowd is testament to the growing popularity of the commercial state comp, where international signings have brought much-needed pizazz to a previously struggling domestic landscape. So as you crack open a bev, carve your watermelon helmet and snag a self-proclaimed classic catch in the backyard, look out for the upcoming Australian summer of cricket. It often seems that any current side is merely a placeholder for greatness to come, but remember: one hard-fought innings now can be a Brian Lara-esque story to recall fondly in the future. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

SATIRE

MAY THE HETERO BE WITH YOU Anna Miley

Episode III: Revenge of the Queer

It was a dinner date that finally brought me back to the Hetero. My dark tendencies had serious repercussions for my date’s reliance on established gender roles. Mentioning that I’d dated women was misguided and unkind. He had every right to feel rattled and ask whether “somebody played the man” in my lesbian relationships. His fear that I wasn’t impressed with his sculpted pecs and vast income finally showed me why the Gay Agenda had gotten it all wrong. How had I fallen off the straight and narrow? The first nineteen years of my life were comfortably heterosexual. Alas, ‘your focus determines your sexuality’. I take full responsibility for descending into a quagmire of sexual self-doubt and perversion. In my second year at a Melbournian college I had met a fresher. She was gay; I was straight. There was no flirting because we were just being friendly and flirtation is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. We found each other on the dance floor of the college ball. My hand brushed her waist. We kissed, ignoring the cat calls of spray-tanned young liberals stumbling drunkenly around the Docklands venue. Afterwards, I felt guilty and strangely confused. Perhaps my Hetero subconscious was telling me to stamp out the homoerotic fire that this saucy lesbian had ignited. I can best describe my ensuing inner crisis as the Sexuality Wars: episodes I, II, III, IV and V.

‘It’s a trap!’ Episode I: The Phantom Agenda ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’ One day while shopping online for lingerie I got… distracted. I’d moved cities but the phantom-like Agenda had clearly not finished with me.

Episode II: The Identity Wars ‘Your feelings can deceive you. Don’t trust them.’ My parents scoffed when I came out. Resentful and angry I ploughed into queer terrains alongside bi-curious, bi-flexible and bisexual companions. We battled against the voice of the Hetero telling us that we were forsaking our true identity, that we were doing it for attention, that we were just horny and desperate. I waged war on claims that my bisexual identity made me game for anything and anybody, any day at any time. I should have just listened to the Hetero.

On fiery planet of Taiwan a sophisticated, Audi-driving secretary took me on the best dates of my life. The Queer is insidious: the better it feels, the worse the odds of salvation become. I kissed a girl on Unigames, one of the galaxy’s strongest Hetero planets. Five guys immediately came to our rescue, surrounding and grinding into us, pushing our faces together and then pulling us apart so we could make out with them instead. Fighting the Queer* Agenda can require drastic action.

Episode IV: A New Hoe ‘Close your eyes. Feel it. Heteronormativity… it’s always been there. It will guide you.’ Nu bf nu me! Did this mean that I was straight after all? Had it been a phase all along? The Hetero beckoned me back into its cis-gendered arms. But trouble loomed on the horizon in the form of queer threesome dreams…

Episode V: The Agenda Strikes Back ‘That’s not how the Hetero works!’ The Threesome Dreams were too powerful. I succumbed and secured my place in Hetero Hell. I dated another girl. As we made out at a gig we saw a lad started filming us. Guys outside asked us to hook up in front of them. The Hetero dictated that sapphic displays should service male pleasure alone, but in our depravity we gave it the finger.

Episode VI: Return of the Hetero? ‘Don’t underestimate the Hetero.’ What will the sixth episode hold? Let it be a heterosexual man-god with a gym-hardened body who will give me 2.5 children and a white Toyota Tarago. Only with the help of a Hetero knight can I hope to convert my gay and bisexual friends to the cause. Dear Straight Cis Man and Future Husband, I need your help. Let’s fight the Gay Agenda together. BYO white picket fence.

Satire

Student Returns Home for the Weekend with the Intent of Getting Work Done Eleanor Armstrong It’s a balmy Friday afternoon, Canberra is dead silent and the student populace of ANU perform their personal procrastination rituals in hushed unity. A naïve first year, head still throbbing from a drawnout night at Mooseheads, climbs the scuffed stairs of the Murray’s Express bus. Falling into the familiar leather caress of well-worn coach seats, she makes a vow to herself that this weekend will be different from the others. She has written her to-do list, printed off her readings, downloaded the relevant lectures from Echo and is all but ready to begin her catch-up journey. The bus ride will provide a good head start for what is surely going to be a couple of productive days. Alas, overcome by built-up sleep debt and an overwhelming hedonistic desire to avoid the pain of actually having to think, she falls into the warm embrace of a mid-afternoon kip. By the time she returns to her childhood abode four hours later, she is coping with a bizarre concoction of over-napping fatigue and dehydration (definitely not a hangover). It would be pointless to begin her endeavour now, and possibly set off on the wrong foot by working unproductively. No, she won’t allow risk that possibility,

and so instead indulges in some reality TV binging. She’d have get up to date with the Bachelorette’s latest pursuits at some point anyway – so why not now? By midnight, her eyes can no longer focus on the contestants’ contrived job descriptions and so, despite having completed exactly 0 tasks, she quite willingly succumbs to sleep. But no matter, she will be effective tomorrow, she promises herself… By the time she rises the next afternoon, it is already too late to begin that essay – as she had previously calculated that getting the whole thing done would take an entire day. Rather than disrupt the creative flow and risk reducing her grade mark by handing in a lower quality assignment, she begins half-heartedly scanning some of week 2’s readings – highlighting random sentences that could potentially have some significance, not that she could tell. Her mind flits in and out of academic mode and slowly drifts away into thinking about her grandmother’s home cooking at the family dinner planned for that evening. Her mother yells up the stairs that she is leaving to run some errands, and without a second thought, the girl drops her Stabilo marker and offers to accompany her.

Next thing she knows, it is already 4pm and only an hour until she must head over to her grandparents’. The dog looks like he needs a wash, and she really is the only one who knows how to do it properly – that would be a good use of her time, she decides. The meal chases all thoughts of study out of her mind and leaves her with a sense of fulfilment that only spending time with family can bring. Why put a dampener on that by doing work – after all, weren’t people always telling her to take some time out for herself? She goes to bed yet again 90% content, but 10% guilty – as though she is deliberately denying her responsible self. She wakes up the next day and suddenly remembers all the tasks that she can only complete while at home, and swiftly sets about backing up all her electronics, repairing a hole in an off-season top using her mother’s sewing kit and going through her year twelve notes to find that worksheet that vaguely related to a lecture in week 5. Whilst she’s doing the latter, she decides she might as well file and colour code her uni work for the semester while she’s at it. All this productivity has made her hungry, so she spends the next half hour closely examining the contents of her fridge

to prepare herself a meal made up of all the things she cannot afford as a student. The thought of food suddenly reminds her of her reduced oven access back in Canberra, compelling her to bake for the first time in years at the prospect of not being able to do so for the next month. Being a serial burner, she cannot leave the appliance’s side, and by the time the cookies are done, it’s time to stuff everything back into her bag and drive to the station to head home. Sitting back down on the bus once more, she is filled with a sudden rush of regret topped off with just a dash of cheeky satisfaction that she has allowed herself some time off over the past few days – it’ll be good for her in the long run, she reassures herself. Now is not the time to face all the work she didn’t do – that can wait until she gets home – so, once again, she leans against the coach window and welcomes sleep with open arms…

Mooseheads Nightclub adopts Berghain-inspired door policy Tom Russell-Penny It’s no secret that there has been a lot of bad press surrounding Canberra’s favourite nightspot recently. Just last month, a man was assaulted leaving the club. In April, another man was coward-punched on the street right outside the venue. In an attempt to control this growing media storm, the London Circuit Nightclub has announced that it will be instituting a Berghain-inspired door policy. But, in typical Mooseheads fashion, they will be denying entry to individuals with any sort of style, class or dignity.

Following the lead of the notorious Berlin nightclub, famous for its uber-strict entry rules, Mooseheads bouncers will now be very selective with whom they allow in their establishment. Luckily, Woroni has been issued with a document specifying these conditions, so we can all go about our trash Thursday night lives, without the fear of being turned away at the door. 1. Individuals must arrive in large numbers and are required to talk loudly in the line.

2. Individuals must consume at least 8 standard drinks prior to entry.

5. Membership of John XXIII College is preferred.

3. For men – items of clothing bought from Tarocash, yd., Roger David and Industrie are encouraged. However, if you want to be certain of gaining entry, a tight Fluro button up, or any t-shirt with an Aztec pocket design should do the trick.

6. Proficiency at any arcade game that involves shooting deer for sport is encouraged.

4. For women – items from Ice, Valleygirl, or Gluestore are favored.

Whilst many onlookers interviewed have stated that they believed such a door policy was already in place at the club, this decision is likely to have a major impact on Canberra’s nightlife. Can Mooseheads survive yet another controversy? Only time will tell.

Week 12, Semester 2, 2016

satire

Date Jiaying Go

Obviously a lizard person – only lizard people have shoes that shiny. I’m underneath a recycled pine wood table. His chinos are camel, like everyone else’s. Good camouflage, lizard person. It’s dark so it takes a few seconds before my hands clasp leather. “Aha – my wallet – got it, yep.” When I return to my seat, he sits across from me, his mild, approachable smile still frozen in place. “So what do you do for fun?” His accent is North Shore, Sydney. Standard Australian English with enunciation evocative of sarcasm, oddly singsong and pitchy. “Oh movies mostly – I love a good piece of oscarbait.” Hobbies aren’t really my forte – mostly I just go to uni; on the weekends I work. Sometimes, my housemates make me go to the movies. I’m so bland, I’m like vanilla icecream without the vanilla. I was extremely grateful when this guy , this rando who I met in Union Court today wearing a bright green t-shirt struck a conversation and asked me out to dinner. It’s Tuesday and the Bachelor isn’t on tonight, so I didn’t have anything better to do. Plus, my housemates are gone and I need a space heater. When they’re gone I just watch ABC News 24 on loop and cry every time I see the Sy— “Cool sticks, I actually wanted to see the one with Emma Stone…” “…and Ryan Gosling?” “That’s the one – La La Land.” “Cool – perhaps we should go see it together?” Palms sweaty, mom’s spaghetti, what if he says no.

“Sure, it’s a date.” “Oh, okay, cool.” The restaurant is quiet – it’s a little bit fancy. We stare into each other’s eyes. His are blue. His hair is blondish. His features are regular and oddly familiar. He’s wearing a light blue button-up – a nice change from that daggy green t-shirt this morning. I guess he’s good looking but to me he’s just a dude that I’m going to take home tonight because it’s winter in the middle of Canberra and I really need a space heater. We chat about uni, lament over the fact that we still love Midnight in Paris even though Woody Allen is morally questionable. It’s incredibly normcore but we both come out of the conversation feeling like members of the intellectual elite. Over his black truffle ice-cream and my dirty chai gelato I tell him all about my hometown and he asks about my past. My past is incredibly traumatic yet boring; he seems disinterested so I feel that it would only be polite to talk about something else. “So I’ve got this great Aboriginal art collection— – I’d love to see it.” *** We’re now in my apartment. “So here’s our living room, it’s pretty nice I guess, even though we got all our furniture off Gumtree.” “It’s really nice for a student sharehouse.” “Thanks – so rooooooom…”

this

I fling the door open; my room is clean and smells of vanilla and Vaseline. “Wow! You’re so clean!” “I always clean it when I’m expecting guests.” I slowly turn my head to gauge his reaction – He’s Richie Strahan. Oh my god he’s Richie Strahan. That’s why he looked so bloody familiar. Oh my god he’s dating at least five different

tall blonde women and THERE’S NO WAY I’M GETTING A ROSE BECAUSE I’M A BRUNETTE.

“ – dude, we only met this morning, like, I was just trying to get to class in Union Court and…”

Yet somehow, whether it be magic or sufficiently advanced technology, he’s smiling.

“Look, let’s just go to sleep, and then we can talk about it in the morning.”

“I just think you’re really incredible, and really beautiful, and I’d love to get to know you more and I was wondering whether you would accept this rose…”

I was up all night,I couldn’t sleep all night unable to sleep. My back rested against his stomach, and I could feel his ectothermic system absorb heat from my body, speeding up the rate at which our romantic dinner was digested.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.” *** “Let’s do it.” Before we know it, we’re having sex. It’s missionary, and then missionary but the other way around. It’s very vanilla, which I appreciate. His abs are perfect. He clearly works out. He has a two-day stubble which is hot but my favourite part is his tongue – it’s incredibly flexible and fast. Twelve-and-a-half minutes later we’re lying side by side in my double bed. We’re spooning as I fantasise about telling my friends about that one time I slept with Bachie Dickie BachDick. Content with the day’s events, I prepared to reap the rewards of my efforts: a heater in the shape of a human. So, as if we’ve both done this before, possibly with other people, we settled into the position of big spoon and little spoon. Exhausted, I prepared myself for sl— “Wait. Why is your body so cold?” “Wh– what do you mean haha cool bananas my body’s like everyone else’s, there’s nothing wrong with me.” As he said this I felt his cool tongue flick against my neck – IT WAS FORKED. You’re a lizard, Bachie!” “Crikey, I guess you know now. I was just so terrified because you’re absolutely incredible and I just didn’t know how to tell you that I was actually a lizard person. We’ve just had such an incredible journey – “

As he awoke the next morning, probably from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in my bed into a giant lizard. “ARGGH IT’S LIKE THE METAMORPHOSIS.” On the outside, I was screaming, but on the inside, my inner goddess was beaming with that reference. He did not have the grace to look abashed – for he was now a giant lizard. He slithered down, his bloated reptilian belly knocked my bedsheet to the floor. His small arms reached for me – a farewell hug? No. In his hand is a bright green A5 piece of paper. On it, are the words “CONNECT 2018”. He whispers in my ear: “The next fazzssseeeeee has begun.”

Event GUide If you have an event coming up, and would like it to feature in our Event Guide, email us at eventguide@woroni.com.au

17 SEPT Gillard and Turnbull: Media Analysis The Food Coop, 5:30pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x2022;

18 SEPT Food Coop & 2XX FM Trivia Night! The Ruc, 6:30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:30pm

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ad Hominemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - A Conversation with Simone Dennis, Katie Sutton, & Robert Wellington University House, 5:15pm, đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

24 SEPT

25 SEPT

Fenner Lecture - Dr Karl Kruszelnicki Llewellyn Hall ANU, 6:30, đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

ANU Archives annual lecture: Did the Grim Reaper win? R G Menzies, McDonald Room đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

ANU PPE Society AGM 2016 ANU, 6:30 Climate cafe: Climate change - what you can do Springbank Lecture Theatre, 12.15â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1.45pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

31 SEPT

Maritime Governance from Papal Bulls to UN Conventions Hedley Bull Buidling Lecture Theatre 1, 5.30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7pm

1 Nov

19 SEPT Food and Wine in the Laneway Tocumwal Ln, 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9pm Political science, prediction, and the US presidential election Sir Roland Wilson Building, 4pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

26 SEPT ANUSA Kitten Play Date ANUSA, 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2pm Movie Screening - New Castle The Auditorium, 5.30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

20 SEPT Global Clothes Swap Movement ANU, Union Court 2016 Clubs & Societies Ball ANUSA, National Arboretum Canberra Advocating the Arts: Panel Discussion ANU School of Art, 6pm

21 SEPT The Gypsy Scholars The Phoenix, 8pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E; 6 Pack La De Da, 8pm

22 SEPT Opening Night Queanbeyan Drive-In Movies, 7:30pm Peachy Keen Grand Opening! Peachy Keen, 10am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5pm

23 SEPT Movie Screening â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Behemoth The Auditorium, 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 4pm, đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

Meet the Chef Dinner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Silvia Colloca University House, 6pm, $85

27 SEPT

28 SEPT

29 SEPT

30 SEPT

ANU/The Canberra Times meet the author event - The Secret Cold War 26 A, MCC, 6.30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7.30pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

ANU Sci Soc goes to Questacon Questacon, 6pm

Daydreams Ainslie Arts Centre, 4pm, $5

Halloween: Scareful Sound (Playful Sound, Moontown Records) Lobrow Gallery & Bar, 6pm

Knightmare on Mort Street Knightsbridge, 7pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

Amps Not Camps! ANU RAC fundraiser party Polish White Eagle Club, 8pm, $10 Twenty Questions: Laura Tingle Muse Canberra

00â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Appreciation Night Mr Wolf, 1pm đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

2 Nov

Unravelling the mysteries of bats: from bioacoustics to behavioural ecology 12.30pm, Slatyer Seminar Room, DA Brown Building 47, đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E;

đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x17E; 0$ Free đ&#x;&#x2026;&#x2022; Food provided

3 NOV

4 Nov

The Dandy Warhols ANU Bar, 8pm

The Tallis Scholars Llewellyn Hall, 8pm, $81.56

Jumping Castle Less Stresstival ANUSA, 11am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2pm Movie Screening Kaili Blues, 1 McCoy Circuit Acton ACT 2601, 6â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8pm, $17

5 nov DAY OF THE DEAD FIESTA Ainslie Arts Centre, Elouera Street, Braddon, 3 - 11:30pm, $30

6 nov